Go For Broke
by Sparky She-Demon
Summary: Upon finally finding an inter-realm passageway to Midgard, Hanna sees the events in Stuttgart. As she makes her way back to the portal, she runs into the Avengers there. Whilst on the helicarrier, it becomes known that Loki was her teacher. Upon figuring a few things out, Hanna fights in the Battle of New York, where she does things that have lasting repercussions. *sequel*
1. Bury all the Memories

**Chapter I: Bury all the Memories**

 **A/N: And here comes Go For Broke. Reading Skyfall first is** _ **highly**_ **recommended before reading this one to avoid confusion. Pairings will be decided as things go along, even if they don't happen right away. Rating will be subject to change at a later date. Thanks go to theicemenace for her beta work. Enjoy the chapter! Sparky She-Demon**

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" _ **Bury all the memories, cover them with dirt…"**_ **Fire and Ice, Within Temptation**

* * *

" _What is this blasted place?"_ Hanna thought angrily as she took in her surroundings at the end of the inter-realm passageway. They were unlike anything she had ever seen.

Though she did see that the clothes were very different from what she was wearing, and those were already attracting odd looks from the locals. Hanna ducked behind a building, summoned some clothing so that she could blend in.

Her pants were of a tough, blue material, the shirt short-sleeved, black, and of a soft material, Hanna could not name.

At least the outer coat was of a recognizable material: leather. It was long, and came to her ankles. Hanna had kept her boots, as they were the only article that would not attract the wrong kind of attention.

After sending the rest of her Asgardian attire to that interdimensional storage space of hers, Hanna decided to take a look around thinking,

" _Now to find out where I am. Thank the Norns for the fact that Allspeak sounds like whatever the local language is."_

Hanna joined the throng of people. Whatever Realm she was in, it sure had a lot of people.

Noticing a man that seemed to be wearing a uniform of some sort, Hanna went over to him and asked,

"Excuse me, I got lost. What place is this?"

With a helpful smile, he replied, "You are in Stuttgart, Germany. How far are you from your group miss?"

Summoning a smile, Hanna replied smoothly, "Not very far. Thank you." With that, she walked away quickly, not wanting to attract any kind of unnecessary attention.

With a discreet wave, Hanna wiped the man's memory of seeing her.

She was still close enough to hear when a friend of his came up and said, "So did you get a date out of that gorgeous brunette?"

The man she had spoken to replied, "What brunette?"

###

While walking around this city, Hanna had been thinking of how thrilled Thor would be when she told him about the new passage to Midgard.

Suddenly, she felt a skull splitting pain. Hanna staggered towards a bench to sit down. It was pain unlike any she'd felt before. As the pain cleared, Hanna sensed the presence of another sorcerer.

And not just _any_ sorcerer.

The sorcerer that had caused her no end of trouble for the past two years, Prince of Lies and Mischief: Loki.

Hanna's anger burnt through her. Without even trying, her hands became alight with blue flames.

Thankfully, no one was paying any attention to her; all attention was focused on her old teacher, who was in the midst of causing no shortage of chaos. He had a strange looking spear that emanated pure power. She wondered where he had gotten it from.

Loki had obviously been wearing some local clothes as his armor shimmered into view. That was a comparatively easy trick to pull off. It took little concentration for any truly competent magic user.

Hanna watched as he threw up several illusions of himself to corral the crowd of people. Then he yelled, "I * _said_ * KNEEL!"

At that moment, Loki seemed to lose control of the glamour that hid the blue skin that marked him as a Frost Giant.

Hanna immediately took the precaution of concealing her presence. Even though she doubted that Loki was even looking of other magic signatures, she could not be too careful.

Sure enough the mortals knelt, some of them looking around at the illusions trying to figure out which one was the real one. Hanna's eyes were straight forward. No one was likely watching her, as Loki had all of the attention he could possibly want.

And no one, other than Loki himself would know who she was. Hanna was going to watch, to see what he was up to.

###

Once the humans were finished kneeling, Loki began speaking while walking through the crowd, "Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state? It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you _crave_ subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled, in the end you will always kneel." He had an evil grin on his face.

Hanna was frowning. Even though Loki had always possessed a dim viewpoint in regards to the humans, he had never really taken this tact towards them.

###

As she came out of those thoughts, Hanna noticed that an old man was standing up from his kneeling position and said, "Not to men like you!"

She was impressed, a human with no powers that could possibly even hope to match Loki. Hanna hoped he kept on going.

Grinning, Loki replied, "There are no men like me."

Ignoring him, the old man shot back, "There are _always_ men like you."

Hanna could tell that Loki was angered by this, but he only grinned saying, "Look to your elder, people. Let him be an example."

The spear was powering up, then Loki fired a blast at the old man. Before Hanna could even think about throwing up a magical shield in front of him, out of nowhere came what looked like a man, and used a shield to deflect the blast back towards Loki, knocking him to the ground.

As the man who held the shield stood up, Hanna finally got a good look at him. He was wearing a uniform of red, white, and blue with a star on his chest. The shield had the same color scheme, with a star in the middle.

" _How does he move in that?"_ Hanna thought to herself. He was a soldier that much Hanna could tell as he walked slowly towards Loki saying,

"You know the last time I was in Germany, and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing."

"The soldier," Loki sneered as he stood up, "The man out of time."

"I'm not the one who's out of time," the other man said as a flying craft of some sort came into view, with someone aboard ordering, "Loki, drop the weapon and stand down."

" _Oh like that's going to happen"_ Hanna scoffed. Her former instructor was on a roll, and she was going to stay and watch and see how this played out. She had a feeling that it would be quite the fight, despite the man in stripes being a mere human.

Sure enough, Loki fired a blast off at the flying craft, and the man in red, white, blue managed to throw his shield at Loki, hitting him in the shoulder and managing to get a punch in.

Loki, instead of using his magic, used the staff. His opponent managed to block him a few times, before Loki got him in the gut. The other man took a deep breath, before trying to throw the shield, which Loki blocked away with ease.

Loki's opponent missed a few more punches before getting knocked in the shoulders, to the steps leading up to a fountain.

"Kneel." Loki growled as he put the butt of the spear to his opponent's head. Hanna still hadn't caught his name yet.

"Not today!" the other man replied as he grabbed the spear and kicked Loki in the chest.

###

Little did Hanna realize that as she was watching the fight, the old man from earlier was watching her. Why wasn't she running like everybody else? She was watching the fight, her eyes moving to keep up with the fighters.

###

The fight was not going so well for the soldier as Loki had called him. Loki was throwing him all over the place.

Hanna had cover her ears all of the sudden to block out the blast of noise that poisoned her ears.

" _Is this what the mortals call *music*?_ "

Amidst that, Hanna opened her eyes to see a suit of red and gold armor shoot through, and hit Loki in the chest with some sort of energy blasts, knocking him into the stairs.

The suit seemed to be a weapon in of itself, when the man inside the suit growled,

"Make your move Reindeer Games."

Loki illusioned his cape, helmet, and armor away. He raised his hands in the universal sign of surrender.

###

As the humans led Loki onto the flying craft (they had no idea that he was just toying with them), Hanna turned around and left. There was nothing left for her to see here, she had to get back to the forest.

###

Shortly before he got on the plane, Steve heard a throat being cleared. Turning around, Steve saw the man that he'd deflected the blast away from.

Seeing that he'd gotten Steve's attention, "Thank you for saving my life, Captain," he said. "You're welcome…" Steve didn't know the man's name.

"Karl." The man turned away, then paused, and said, "One more thing Captain Rodgers, there was another one. Like Loki."

That got Steve's attention, "What did he look like?"

" _She_ was a young woman with dark hair and blue eyes. Even though she was wearing local clothing, she had the same decidedly otherworldly presence that he has. Best of luck Captain."

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 **A/N 2: And…. We're off. Sorry for the lack of activity for Hanna in this chapter, it will be made up for in the next ones. Please tell me what you all think!**


	2. For Ev'ry Sin

**Chapter II: For Ev'ry Sin**

 **A/N: And here's chapter two. What fun! Thanks go to my new beta, Laura. Enjoy the chapter! SSD**

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" _ **For ev'ry sin, I have to pay…" Die Another Day- Madonna.**_

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Steve was thinking about what Karl had told him: There was another Asgardian running around loose on Earth. What made matters worse was that there was no way to track her.

With their luck, her abilities were going to be more similar to Loki's. And was she friend or foe?

Steve had not yet mentioned what he had been told to either Stark or Agent Romanov. He also had a feeling that saying anything about it within Loki's likely very good hearing, would be a bad idea.

"There's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you," Tony snarked. Before Steve could say anything back to him, thunder and lightning started flashing about. There hadn't been a storm in the forecast for the area.

"Where is this coming from?" Natasha asked aloud.

All of the sudden, Loki seemed to be almost… nervous. It was the storm.

"What's the matter, scared of a little lightning?" Steve asked.

"I am not overly fond of what follows."

###

Hanna looked up as the thunder and lightning roared in the skies above her. She grinned. There was going to be help from back home.

###

Meanwhile back in the Quinjet, Steve noticed that it was all Natasha could do to keep it in the air as something hit it. Stark picked up the helmet to his suit to put it on, and walked towards the back and opened it.

Shortly after Tony opened the back door to the plane, a Man (or something else) flew in, knocked Tony back with his weapon which was a hammer, knocking them both to the ground.

Turn towards Loki, he broke the restraints and flew off.

Tony went towards the door of the Quinjet, his intent clear; Steve called out, "We need a plan of attack."

Stark snarled back, "I have a plan: Attack!", and he flew off.

###

Sure enough, Thor was here and he'd just taken Loki from the humans. He threw Loki to the ground and growled, "Where is the Tesseract?"

That word sounded familiar to Hanna, but she could not immediately place it. She almost missed Loki saying, "I missed you too!"

"Do I look to be in a gaming mood," Thor snarled.

"You should thank me. With the Bifrost gone, how much dark energy did the Allfather have to muster to conjure you here, your _precious_ Earth?" Loki sneered as he started to stand up again.

Setting Mjolnir down, Thor grabbed Loki by the collar and yanked him up the rest of the way, looking him up and down then said, "I thought you dead."

"Did you mourn?" Loki asked sarcasm clear in his tone.

"We all did. Our father-"Thor started before Loki interrupted hissing, " _Your_ father. He did tell you my true parentage did he not?" Loki shook Thor's hand off his shoulder and started to walk away stiffly.

" _Obviously the landing did not agree with him,"_ Hanna thought with a smirk.

Thor tried another tactic, "We were raised together, we played together we fought together, do you remember none of that?" The older prince had a pleading tone in his voice.

Loki was unmoved, saying, "I remember a shadow, living in the shade of your greatness. I remember you tossing me into an abyss, I who was and should be king!"

"So you take the world I love as recompense for your imagined slights? No, the Earth is under _my_ protection Loki-"

Her former instructor just laughed at that statement, "And you're doing such a _marvelous_ job with that. The humans slaughter each other in droves as you idly fret. I mean to _rule_ them, as why should I not?"

"You think yourself above them?" Thor asked.

"Well, yes," Loki replied, confused at the question.

"Then you miss the truth of ruling brother. The throne would suit you ill."

Loki shoved past Thor shouting, "I've seen worlds you've never known about. I have grown _Odinson_ in my exile," sneering before continuing "I have seen the true power of the Tesseract and when I wield it.." This time Thor interrupted by asking, "Who showed you this power? Who controls the would be king?"

"I am king!" Loki roared.

Hanna remembered her father saying something, _"Anyone who has to say "I am the king" is not a true king."_

"NOT HERE! You give up the Tesseract, you give up this pointless dream…" Thor took a breath, before pleading, "You come home."

For a moment, it looked like Thor's pleading had worked. Loki gave a small laugh then grinned, "I don't have it."

Thor, growling summoned Mjolnir to him, and prepared to give Loki a very good hit with it. Before he could hit his long lost brother, Loki cut in with, "You need the cube to bring me home, but I've sent it off, I know not where."

"You listen well brother I-," Thor threatened when suddenly a red-gold missile flew in and knocked Thor away.

"I'm listening." Loki had a completely innocent look on his face. Hanna was not fooled.

###

Now that Thor had been blasted away by Iron Man, Loki could actually take a look around at his surroundings. Then he sensed something. Someone close by was trying to hide their magic signature by bouncing it all over the place. And whoever it was, knew what they were doing.

The way the person was bouncing the signature around was also familiar. Loki grinned as he saw the blue-green signature flitting about. He knew _exactly_ who was here. This would make things easier.

Looking towards one of the many outcroppings that could hide a person, Loki called out, "I should have expected to see you here, Hanna!"

He heard a muttered curse in Allspeak before hearing a rather loud crack, signifying that whoever had been there had teleported.

###

Hanna was too busy being angry, when she nearly walked into the middle of a fight. It seemed that the man in the flying armor was back.

Thor was picking himself up off the ground, and snarled, "Do not touch me again."

The man in the suit replied, "Then don't touch my stuff."

" _Do they have *any* idea how childish they sound?"_ Hanna rolled her eyes.

"You have _no_ idea what you are dealing with," Thor growled.

The man in the suit looked around then said, "Shakespeare in the park?" Saying in an over the top bad version of Thor's voice, "Doth mother know you weareth her drapes?"

Less than amused, Thor snarled back, "This is beyond you, metal man. Loki will face Asgardian justice."

"He gives up the Cube, he's all yours." The faceplate of the armor snapped back into place. "Until then, stay out of the way." As the man turned around, he muttered, "Tourist"

Having had enough, Thor threw the hammer at the man in the armor, catching him in the chest plate.

" _Dammit! Don't they have enough to worry about? Loki is right there! He could get away!"_ Hanna mentally seethed. She also knew that getting out of the way during a fight of Thor's was usually the best course of action. But Hanna still wanted a good vantage point.

She found a good thick tree with plenty of leaves, that was out of the way enough. Unfortunately, Hanna felt a pair of unwelcome eyes on her, _his_ eyes; and pointedly ignored them.

Hanna began to watch, Thor was using a lightning bolt and had hit the armor. It did not seem to be doing much. Hanna had an incredibly bad feeling that all that the lightning was doing was charging up the armor's power source, whatever it was.

Sure enough, that turned out to be true. Thor was hit with three energy blasts at once.

As Thor flew towards his opponent, the other flew forward as well, taking him up in the air. The two men were trying to drag each other against the various rock outcroppings.

Flying back towards the clearing, they collided with a tree, and Mjolnir flew out of Thor's grip. Hanna noticed that the tree they'd hit, was falling towards her hiding place. She jumped out of that tree, hitting the ground hard. Spitting out pine needles, Hanna looked up and Thor was slowly crushing the arm plates of the armor, before receiving a small blast to the face from the energy source in the right hand.

Then came some more hand to hand combat, Hanna had the feeling that without the armor, the man in it, would not do well against Thor, Loki, or even herself.

Still, the man in the armor was flying circles around Thor. Before being caught in the air and flung about.

Before things could get even more out of hand, a shield flew in and knocked the two men in the heads.

"That's enough!" Hanna turned towards the voice and saw the man in the tri-color suit again. He seemed to be the one in charge.

###

Taking a look around, it was clear to Steve that some significant damage had already been done to this particular part of the Black Forest.

After he jumped down from the rock, he started, "Now I don't know what you plan on doing here…" Thor interrupted with, "I'm here to put an end to Loki's schemes!"

"Then put that hammer down."

###

" _No. Very bad idea!"_ Hanna thought as she got out of the way. Only more destruction would be caused.

###

"You want me to put the hammer down?!" Thor yelled.

He was a short distance away from man with the shield, he flew forward and brought the hammer down on the shield. The shield, whatever it was made out of, acted as a conductor, and actually knocked Thor back. There were not many metals that could do that to Mjolnir.

Hanna had to come forward before any more true stupidity happened.

So she called out, "Well done gentlemen!"

###

Tony looked up at the voice. There was a young woman leaning onto a tree. A _very_ attractive young woman, to be exact.

With his most charming smile, Tony asked, "Are you lost?"

The woman just smiled and walked over saying "That's the second time tonight I've been asked that question. No, I am not lost, I am exactly where I need to be." As she was walking over, the clothes she had on shimmered into a suit of armor, complete with a sword and a navy blue cape on her shoulders.

Tony said the first thing that came to his mind, "You're not from around here are you? And where did you pick up that trick?"

Before she could answer his question, Thor said, "Hello Hanna."

Turning his attention away from the woman, Tony asked in disbelief, "You know each other?"

"Yes." Thor answered simply, not giving any explanation.

###

Ignoring the others, Hanna asked Thor, "Where is he?"

Thor flicked his eyes in a direction to her upper left. Nodding, her eyes flashed as she threw a massive fireball in that general direction. Tony and Steve managed to duck to avoid it.

Loki blocked it, like she expected.

Tony looked in the direction Hanna was glaring. Upon seeing their captive, he turned back to her, and asked, "I take it you know him too?"

"You could say that," Hanna growled out.

Before things could get out of hand again, Steve cut in with, "We could use help from you both. Come back with us."

Hanna looked to Thor who nodded. They made their way to get Loki.

###

Now that the Quinjet had been back in the air for some time, Tony couldn't keep it to himself anymore. Turning towards Steve, he said, "You could cut the tension back there with a machete."

Steve looked at the back of the plane. Loki was smirking at Hanna, who was looking everywhere but at him. Thor was glaring at Loki in turn.

He wondered aloud, "Why do I get the feeling that they all know something that we don't?"

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 **A/N 2: That turned out longer than I expected. I hope I did well with Tony and Steve. Please tell me what you think, and please participate in the poll on my profile page as it is involved with this story. SSD**


	3. Face the Truth

**Chapter III: Face the Truth**

 **A/N: So glad that people are enjoying the story. In this chapter, there will be another little treat, like the one in chapter 16 of Skyfall. Like before, I ask that you read the whole chapter. Italics indicate a dream. Thanks go to Laura for her beta work. Enjoy the chapter. SSD**

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" _ **Give me strength to face the truth…"**_ **The Truth Beneath the Rose, Within Temptation.**

* * *

Once they got to the Helicarrier, Tony was only too glad to get off the Quinjet. After a while, due to the tension in the back, everyone else just went quiet as well.

The passengers in the back obviously had a lot of unfinished business to deal with, and it would likely take an army of shrinks to sort it all out.

Tony also wondered what that unfinished business was when it came to Loki and Hanna.

He smirked as Point Break and Hanna strode off. Seeing what happened if the trio of out of town guests blew up at each other would be interesting; though it would likely be quite destructive.

###

"In case it's unclear: You try to escape, you so much as scratch this glass. It's 30,000 feet straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works?" The man called Fury said before grinning, "Ant. Boot."

Everyone in the group was watching him talk to Loki on screens; Hanna was not quite sure how that worked.

Thor had removed his regular armor after arriving. It was back in the room that had been given to the both of them to use. He seemed comfortable around these people.

Turning her attention back to the screen, Hanna heard Loki say, "It's an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me."

" _Good point. If it was there would be magical safety measures."_ Hanna thought.

"Built for something a lot stronger than you," Fury shot back.

Sarcasm clear in his voice Loki said, "Oh I've heard." Turning towards the screen, he sneered, "A mindless beast. Makes play he's still a man."

The redhead flicked a glance at that towards a dark haired man with glasses. Hanna could not understand how that man could possibly be called a "mindless beast."

Loki was continuing to speak with, "How desperate are you? To call on such lost creatures to defend you?" He was grinning at Fury.

"How desperate am I? You threaten my world with war, you steal a force you can't hope to control, you talk about peace, and kill because it's fun. You have made me _very_ desperate. You might not be glad that you did." Loki's face was blank the whole time Fury was speaking to him.

Unimpressed, Loki began again with, "Oooh! It burns you to have come so close. To have the Tesseract, to have power… _unlimited_ power? And for what? A warm light for all mankind to share?"

Hanna got the nasty feeling that Loki thought that there was more to why this organization wanted the Tesseract back.

Loki turned back from the screen sneering, "And then to be reminded what *real* power is!"

"Well, let me know if "real power" wants a magazine or something."

Hanna breathed a sigh of relief. Loki had said nothing about her.

Not content to let Fury have the last word, Loki called out, "Do try to be careful with my apprentice."

Hanna felt the blood drain from her face. She'd thought too soon.

###

Fury stopped walking away, "What do you mean your apprentice? There was no one with you when we picked you up."

"Correct director. But that was the first time you picked me up. After you found Thor, she was standing there for all to see. And you just let her walk right in. Do be careful with her. You never know what she might do next."

Loki smirked up at the screens and winked.

###

Silence reigned for a few moments before all of the agents in the room drew their weapons and pointed their guns at Hanna.

" _And this is why I kept my armor on!"_ she thought to herself before saying aloud, "Please put your weapons down. I mean you all no harm." Hanna kept her hands visible and away from Ovader, in case any of the agents had nervous fingers.

Ignoring her, one of the agents shouted out, "Put the sword on the ground and keep your hands in the air!"

In turn Hanna ignored them. She wanted to keep that red haired agent in her line of sight.

Thor snarled, "I assure, she means you all no harm! She has done nothing wrong."

"You mean she has done nothing wrong _yet_ , Thor. For all you know, she's here to help him." The redhead kept her weapon trained on Hanna's movements.

Unable to keep her calm any longer, Hanna shouted, "Why would I help someone who froze me into a block of ice and was planning on doing who knows what with me when he was finished?"

All of the sudden the smell of burning flesh permeated the room. All of the agents dropped their guns, holding their hands. When Tony looked at the guns on the ground, the metal was bright red with heat. It looked like it wasn't just fire that Hanna could control.

But before he could open his mouth to make a Star Wars joke, Bruce cut in with, "I know that I have not always been considered trustworthy by SHIELD. Yet here I am, helping to the best of my ability, because you know that I am loyal to helping you all. Give her a chance, she hasn't done anything to help him. She hasn't done anything to put herself on SHIELD's radar. Thor trusts her too."

Before any of the agents could reply to that, Coulson walked in and ordered, "Stand down. Leave her be."

Ever the faithful soldiers, they all obeyed him, though the red haired agent that had flown them in did it slightly more slowly than the others, glaring at Hanna the whole time.

" _She's one to watch, so that she does not try to put a knife in my back. As if I didn't have *enough* to worry about!"_ Hanna mentally groaned.

Hanna rubbed her eyes. Thor noticed this, and said, "Go get some rest. I will get you when we need you again."

"I'm fine." Hanna yawned as she said this.

Undeceived, Thor ordered, "This is neither a request nor a debate. I want you to be at full strength. Get some sleep."

Seeing that Thor would not be moved by any argument of hers, Hanna teleported to the room that she was sharing with Thor. She barely made it to the couch, before falling asleep.

###

 _Hanna jerked up. The room she was in was nondescript, with nothing to make it stand out in any particular way._

 _She made to stand up, but got pulled back. Looking down, Hanna saw that her hands were chained to the back posts of the bed. As she tried yanking at them, she heard a smooth baritone voice,_

" _Why don't you stay still? It will just make things easier on you."_

 _Hanna turned sharply in the direction of the voice. It was the absolute last person she wanted to see or deal with right now: Loki._

 _Snarling, Hanna ground out, "Get out of here. I have nothing to say to you."_

 _Loki just tsked his tongue, ignoring her. With a wave of his hand that she almost missed, her body relaxed on the bed to the point where she could not move a muscle._

 _Then he began tracing his hands along her clothes. Even though she was enjoying it, Hanna was still able to keep her anger at him alive._

 _He leaned forward to her ear and whispered, "My darling, to know what you look like underneath all these garments excites me in ways you don't even understand."_

###

Hanna woke up with a jerk. Now was _not_ the time for her mind to start playing with those dreams again. Her skin felt hot again. Everywhere felt hot.

But before she could go and do anything about it, Thor came in and said, "You are going down to the detention area. Loki wants to speak to you."

* * *

 **A/N 2: Oh boy! What *does* he have to say to her? Credit for the whisper goes to Loki's Dirty Whispers. So what do you all think Hanna should do during the fight on the helicarrier? Please tell me what you think!**


	4. Learning All Your Tricks

**Chapter IV: Learning all Your Tricks**

 **A/N: Sorry for the long wait, I wanted to get everything** _ **just**_ **right. Thanks go out to Laura for her beta work. I'm also updating today due to a new movie that is coming out, titled Crimson Peak. I'll be seeing it this weekend. Enjoy the chapter! SSD**

* * *

" **I'm** _ **learning all your tricks;**_ **I can hurt you from inside…" The Devil Within, by The Digital Daggers.**

* * *

"They want _me_ to talk to Loki? Why not you? You are his brother."

Thor took a deep breath, and said, "He asked for you specifically. It seems that SHIELD thinks that you might be able to get more information out of him, given your prior relationship."

Hanna went over to where the sink was and splashed some cold water on her face to get her focus back in the waking world, and out of the realm of disturbing dreams.

" _Where the devil did the idea of me being tied up come from?"_ Hanna thought to herself.

Flexing her neck, Hanna turned to Thor and growled, "Let's just get this over with. I probably will not find out anything of use for them."

###

Hanna and Thor were walking down to the area where Loki was being held. Thor could tell that Hanna was getting more and more tense. This would be the first time she'd actually spoken to Loki since the incident.

Hanna had never said anything to him about what went down while she fought Loki in the Throne Room. The only person who Hanna may have spoken to about it, was likely his mother, who when he asked her about it, told him that it was not his business.

Once they got to the final barrier, Thor looked down and noticed that Hanna still had her sword with her.

Motioning to it, Thor said, "I'm going to need to take that from you."

Rolling her eyes, Hanna still handed it over. She still said, "I don't need my sword to harm him."

Feeling that one last piece of advice was needed, Thor said, "Don't let him get to you."

Hanna nodded and went in.

###

He was using that grin of his. The one that used to make her insides flip around.

"Surprised to see me?" he asked.

Hanna shook her head. "You always find a way to survive." Seeing a chair nearby, she used her magic to move it to where she could sit and still keep an eye on him.

"Now can we get this over with, I don't have all day." Hanna doubted severely whether she'd get anything useful out of him.

Loki was looking her up and down. He was trying to make her uncomfortable. It was the same look he'd given her when he'd asked her about secrets. Norns alone knew what he had in mind for her.

"Look, if you don't have anything to say, I can leave." Hanna made to get up.

"Can't old friends catch up for a bit?" Loki asked with a crooked gleam in his eyes.

"You and I are not "old friends" at the moment." Hanna hissed. "Or any kind of friends. You saw to that quite well."

There was still one thing about him freezing her that still escaped her: Why did she not get frostbitten?

Loki's mouth quirked a bit before saying, "You still have a use to me. After I win…" he trailed off. His eyes traced up and down her body.

Hanna's lips tightened before replying, "Any ideas you may have for me, cast them from your mind."

Loki looked like he was going to make a lewd comment, before saying, "You haven't seen your family in a while have you?"

This was a change from the usual sarcasm. "You know full well that I haven't. The Bifrost is still destroyed, so I can't just drop in for visit."

"Your cousin Sven wasn't too bad of company. He has a better sense of humor than most of your family. I remember when he won the Thunder Tournament…" Loki was rambling.

" _Wait. My cousin has never won a Thunder Tournament. Though he always places high. Loki should know that."_ Hanna thought to herself.

Hanna looked at Loki as he was rambling onward, there was something slightly… _off_ about him, beyond the obvious. She began to lightly probe his mind.

She was going to need a drink if she could find one on this floating fortress. If this worked.

Hanna lightly tapped around the mental defenses, taking full advantage of Loki's distraction.

After a bit in his mind (she really was going to need that drink) Hanna found something that got her attention. His magic/mind signature was wrong and there was influence on it, trying to make it look like it had changed.

Hanna knew one incontrovertible fact: No matter how good a magic user you were, you could not change a person's mind signature.

She now knew something else: Loki was being used, but for what?

To cover herself, Hanna said to Loki, "Are you done rambling? It's not like you have told me anything useful." She got up and left.

Before she left, and was still within earshot, "I wonder what you look like under that armor. What you'd look like tied up."

Flashing back to the dream and fighting the blush Hanna could feel trying to break free, she tried to keep it from her mind.

With a toothy smile (if one wasn't being overly picky), Hanna said through gritted teeth, "Wouldn't you like to know?" She turned on her heel and left.

She could hear Loki chuckling behind her. He was well aware that she was flustered.

Thor was still there waiting for her. "Did you find out anything useful?"

Hanna only replied, "Not sure"

Thor noticed that Hanna was blushing, but decided against asking why. She looked to be in a foul enough mood already.

###

Hanna and Thor were walking towards the lab where Stark and Banner were working to track the Tesseract. As they walked in, they heard Fury ask,

"What are you doing, Mr. Stark?"

In a sarcastic manner, Stark asked back, "Uhhh, kinda been wondering the same thing about you."

Ignoring the accusatory tone, Fury continued on with, "You're supposed to be looking for the Tesseract."

Then Banner spoke up saying, "No. The model is locked and we're sweeping for the signature now. If we get a hit, we'll have a location within half a mile."

"We'll get the cube back. No muss, no fuss." Looking on the screen, Stark asked, "What _*is*_ Phase 2?"

Then a weapon clattered onto a nearby table. Captain Rodgers said, "Phase 2 is SHIELD uses the cube to make weapons." To Stark he said, "Sorry the computer was a little slow for me."

Trying to save the situation, Fury began, "Rodgers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract, this does not mean…" Stark interrupted, turning the screen around as he said, "Sorry Nick. What were you lying about?"

Hanna noticed that the images were showing missiles of some kind. Those were weapons in every sense of the word.

Steve then said, sounding disappointed, "I was wrong Director. The world hasn't changed a bit."

###

Hanna and Thor moved further into the room. She noticed that the redhead from earlier was there as well.

Motioning to her, Bruce asked, "Did you know about this?"

Ignoring the question, she said, "You might want to think about removing yourself from this environment."

"I was in Calcutta. I was pretty far removed." Bruce was sounding tetchy.

"Loki's manipulating you." She said.

"And you've been doing what exactly?" Bruce was sounding tetchier.

Hanna could now sense an only too familiar energy signature in the room.

"You didn't come along because I batted my eyelashes at you," she shot back.

"Yeah, but I'm not leaving just because you're getting a little twitchy." Turning towards the screen the formerly secret weapon, Bruce asked "I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction?"

Fury was silent for a moment before saying, "Because of them." He was pointing at her and Thor. She and Thor stepped forward in confusion before Fury continued with, "Two years ago, Earth had a visitor from another planet, who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, we are hopelessly, hilariously outgunned." Except Fury wasn't laughing at all.

Before she could get a word out, Thor said, "My people want nothing but peace with your planet."

Turning around Fury shot back to Thor, "But you're not the only people out there are you? And you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people that can't be matched. That can't be controlled."

"Like you controlled the Cube?" Rogers scoffed.

###

This time Hanna finally spoke up, "Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki here, and his allies." Thor cut over saying, "It is a signal to all the realms that the Earth is ready for a higher form of war."

"A higher form?" Rogers sounded shocked.

Fury replied to Thor, "You forced our hand. We had to come up with…" Stark interrupted him saying, "A nuclear deterrent? Because that always calms things right down."

"Remind me again of how you made your fortune Stark." Hanna got the feeling that Stark had been the maker of weaponry at one point or another.

Rogers started to get into the argument, "I'm sure if you still made weapons, Stark would be neck deep-" The shorter man cut across saying, "Wait, wait. Hold on. How is this now about me?"

"I'm sorry, isn't everything?" Rogers sneered.

Thor snarled, "I thought humans were more evolved than this."

Hanna shared that sentiment, though she said nothing. She was trying to keep an eye on the green signature that was encircling the room.

"Excuse me, do we come to your planet and blow stuff up?" Fury shot back.

Everyone's voices started to run together for Hanna. She was acquiring a headache to end all headaches. She was only catching snatches of the argument. The green energy in the room was affecting her, it was all she could do to not jump in and make the argument worse.

The redhead said, "Are you boys really that naïve? SHIELD monitors potential threats."

Bruce scoffed, " _CAPTAIN AMERICA_ is a threat?"

There was now a ringing from the spear. Hanna wondered if she was the only one that could hear it. The power source at the end of the spear was also starting to glow.

Thor's voice cut through the haze Hanna found herself in, "You speak of control, yet you court chaos." And the both of them were intimately familiar with chaos and the person that personified it when he wanted to.

"It's _his_ MO isn't it? Well what are we a team?" Bruce asked sarcastically before continuing, "No, no we're a chemical mixture… we… we're a time bomb."

Fury turned towards Bruce, "You need to step away."

Tony said, "Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?"

Steve cut in before any more could be said, "You know damn well why. Back off!" He shoved Stark's hand off his shoulder.

Hanna could feel herself starting to sweat. All of her magical focus was being poured into trying to resist the haze of chaos.

"I'm starting to want you to make me." Stark sneered.

"Yeah. Big man in a suit of armor. Take that off what are you?" Rogers asked.

"Genius, Billionaire, Playboy, Philanthropist." Stark replied simply.

The redhead rolled her eyes at that, but didn't dispute it, Hanna noticed.

"I know guys with none of that worth ten of you," Rodgers snarled before going on, "And I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play. To lay down on a wire to let the other guy crawl over you?"

"I think I would just cut the wire." Stark snarked back.

Rogers actually grinned a bit at that. "Always a way out. You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero."

"A hero, like you? You're a laboratory experiment Rogers. Everything special about you came from a _bottle_." Stark snarled.

"Put on the suit. Let's go a few rounds." Rogers challenged.

Thor started laughing all of the sudden, before snickering, "You people are so petty. And tiny."

The voices in the room started to run together again for Hanna, the green haze creeping up on her. She heard Fury order, "Agent Romanov, please escort Doctor Banner back to his room."

"Where? You rented my room." Bruce's voice was getting higher.

"The cell was.." Fury began to say but Bruce finished, "… In case you needed to kill me. But you can't. I know, I tried."

That shut everyone in the room up for the moment. Noticing that he had everyone's attention, Bruce continued on, "I got low. I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth, and the other guy spit it out. So I moved on. I focused on helping other people. I was good. Until *you* dragged me back into this freakshow." He was looking directly at the redhead.

"I put everyone here at risk. You want to know my secret Agent Romanoff, you want to know how I stay calm?"

Hanna then noticed that both Fury and Natasha put their hands where they could get their weapons. Captain Rogers then slowly, clearly and calmly said, "Doctor Banner, put that scepter down."

The shorter man looked down at the weapon in shock. He hadn't realized he'd even been touching it.

Cutting through the tension an alarm went off. Putting the scepter down, Bruce said, "Sorry kids. You don't get to see my party trick after all."

"Have you located the Tesseract?" Thor asked.

"I can get there fastest," Stark said.

Speaking for the first time in a while, Hanna said, "The Tesseract belongs on Asgard. No human is a match for it."

On the other side of the room, Stark and Rogers were arguing again. Hanna tuned them out before focusing on Banner, whose face had drained of color.

"Oh my God." He looked up from the screen. Hanna looked at the screen herself from where she was. All she could tell was that the Tesseract had been found and it was nearby.

Then an explosion of heat and flame cut into the room knocking everyone around.

Thor was knocked to a different level, Romanoff and Banner knocked through walls that fell in separating them from the others.

All Hell broke loose.

###

Captain Rodgers turned to Stark who was on the ground next to him, again he said, "Put on the suit." This was a completely different tone.

"Yep!" the shorter man replied.

Rodgers noticed Hanna getting up, before saying, "Come with us. We need your help with the fire."

Absent orders from Thor, she had no chain of command. She figured she could help these two humans. Hanna followed them as they ran out of the room.

Stopping in front of a room, Stark shouted, "Meet me at engine 3" to her and Rodgers.

"Follow me. We need to beat him there," Steve said.

Hanna sped up when she heard a roar of pure rage echo through the flying fortress. She didn't want to be any closer to whatever made that noise than she had to be.

"What was that?" Hanna hollered.

"That is likely the Hulk."

###

Loki grinned evilly in his cell, showing all his teeth. His plan had worked, the Hulk was loose!

His men, led by Agent Barton for the moment, would do their work well. And obey _all_ his commands.

It just wouldn't do if Hanna got harmed unnecessarily.

###

Steve and his Asgardian companion finally made it to the area around engine 3. It seemed that they had beaten Tony to it.

He allowed himself a few moments to take a look at Hanna. Not breathing heavily at all, she was taking in the damage, showing little emotion on her face.

Before he could think about it any further, Steve saw a familiar red-gold suit of armor. He shouted, "Stark! We're here!"

###

"Good." Stark replied. "Let's see what we got."

Hanna now knew that when Stark was in that suit, he was known as "Iron Man" even though the flying armor was not made out of that metal.

She watched Stark fly around assessing the damage. The words he was saying were obviously parts of the damaged engine. The only thing that made sense to her was when he muttered, "Work on dislodging the debris."

To Captain Rodgers he said, "I need you to get to that control panel and tell me which relays are in overload position."

Before the Captain jumped, he said to Hanna, "If any of Loki's troops come this way, keep them busy."

After he'd made the jump, Rodgers shouted to Stark, "It seems to run on some form of electricity."

Hanna could almost hear Stark rolling his eyes before he said, "Well, you're not wrong."

She wondered what Thor was up to. Perhaps he was going try and wrangle that beast known as the Hulk.

###

After about ten minutes of clearing debris, Tony finally broke through to the other side.

"Okay, the relays are intact!" Steve hollered. What's our next move?"

"Even if I clear the rotors, this thing won't start without a jump. I'm going to have to get in there and push."

"But when that thing gets up to speed, you'll get shredded!"

"That standard control unit can reverse the polarity enough to disengage maglev…" Tony started to say, before Steve cut across shouting, "Speak English!"

Taking a breath, he continued with, "See that red lever? It'll slow the rotors down long enough for me to get out. Get by it and wait for my word."

As Steve made his way over there, he heard Hanna yell out, "We've got company Captain!"

###

Oh her old teacher had prepared his mind-slave troops well. They were throwing strange round weapons that Rodgers knocked away before they exploded.

Not even bothering to draw her sword, Hanna jumped into the fray.

###

As Steve was dealing with his group of soldiers he did get glimpses of Hanna fighting.

She was faster than anyone he'd ever seen.

Then again, despite her humanoid appearance, Hanna was anything but.

Steve ignored the smell of burning flesh. She was not just using her fists.

All of the sudden, the Helicarrier began falling to the left. Loki's people had managed to disengage another one of the engines. Steve could barely keep his feet.

They needed to get this one back online and fast. It would not end well if they did not.

Steve was continuing to fight when more of Loki's men came through from a different angle. He briefly noticed that despite the fact that Hanna was causing them more trouble, the soldiers were more focused on him. As they went on shooting at him, they beat him back to the edge of the rail, he fell back and barely managed to grab onto a cord of steel rope.

###

Hanna knew that Rodgers was in trouble. But Loki's troops were keeping her busy.

She wasn't killing _all_ of them, because she had a feeling that this organization would want to question some of them.

###

"You're gonna lose."

Loki turned around at that. The mortal agent seemed to be stronger than he had previously thought.

"Am I?"

"It's in your nature."

"Your heroes are scattered, your floating fortress falls from the sky… Where *is* my disadvantage?" Loki asked.

"You lack conviction." The agent ground out.

"I don't think I…" Loki didn't get to finish as he got blasted through the wall.

"So that's what it does."

###

The propeller was starting to get up to speed again.

Tony called out, "Captain the lever please!"

###

"I need a minute here!" Steve was slowly making his way back up.

###

"Lever NOW!" Tony bellowed. He was started to get clobbered by the propellers.

###

Steve was dodging bullets as he was crawling on the floor. He knew that Tony was on borrowed time.

Suddenly he heard the guns clatter to the floor along the sounds of bodies dropping, the smell of burnt flesh clearly in the air.

"Sorry I took so long Captain." Steve looked up as he saw Hanna standing in front of him with her hand out. After he took it and she helped him up, Hanna said with a slight smile, "Now let's get Stark out of there before he gets crushed."

With a wave the lever went down and Tony fell/flew his way out.

They'd won their little battle around the engine. Steve wondered what at the price that may have been paid.

* * *

 **A/N 2: So… Was it worth the wait? Tell me what you think please! SSD**


	5. In My Sights

**Chapter V: In My Sights**

 **A/N: Apologies for the long wait. This is Battle of New York. So it was always going to be a longer chapter. The wait should be worth it. Thank you Laura for your beta work. The lines from the movie are as close as I could get them. Bold is Tony talking through the Iron Man suit, italics are thoughts or…. Never mind, that would be giving a spoiler! Enjoy the chapter, Sparky She-Demon**

* * *

" **Revenge is a kiss, this time I won't miss. Now I've got you** _ **in my sights!"**_ **Goldeneye by Tina Turner.**

* * *

Things were back under control, or at least it was controlled chaos. But there had been a price for this controlled chaos. The Hulk was gone; Thor was missing due to having gone after Loki, who had escaped. Also several SHIELD agents were down, but only one fatality, Phil Coulson.

Hanna had not known the man at all, but she could tell that his death had shaken the newly named Avengers.

She also did not know who to approach with her theory about Loki. Agents Romanoff and Barton (who'd gotten good knock to the head and had then been released from the mind control) would not believe her if it was the last resort. Stark and Rogers on the other hand might at least listen to her, Rogers more likely than Stark.

Fury would probably be the same as his two top agents.

After the chat they'd had with him, the remaining Avengers plus Hanna had gone their separate ways. She needed to find the Captain. He was the only chance to get the theory through.

###

Hanna was having a problem locating Rogers. Few people were inclined to help her still, even though she thought that she had proved herself in helping Rogers and Stark.

Once she got closer to the detention area, Hanna heard two familiar voices.

"Was he married?" Rogers was there.

"No. There was a cellist I think." Stark replied.

"I'm sorry; he seemed like a good man." Rogers seemed to be trying to comfort Stark.

For once, Stark was silent for a moment before saying, "He was an idiot."

"Why? For believing?" Steve's arms were crossed now.

"For taking on Loki alone." Stark shot back.

Hanna had to agree with Stark. There were only two people on Midgard capable of dealing with Loki on their own and Agent Coulson had not been one of them.

She almost missed the Captain's reply, "He was doing his job."

Stark scoffed before saying, "He was out of his league. He should have waited. He should have..."

Steve took a step forward before he said, "Sometimes there isn't a way out."

Stark was making his way out of the room as he replied, "Right. I've heard that before."

"Have you ever lost a soldier?"

Stark finally snapped, shouting, "WE ARE NOT SOLDIERS! I am not marching to Fury's fife!"

Rogers shot back, "Neither am I! He's got the same blood on his hands that Loki does. But right now we've got to put that behind us and get this done."

Hanna cut in with, "Captain, might I have a word with you? I have a theory that I'd like to discuss."

###

Steve and Tony looked up in shock. They had not even heard her come into the area.

"Do we need to attach a bell to you? You could give someone a heart attack with how quiet you are!" Stark asked.

Ignoring him, Hanna continued speaking to Steve, "What if I had a theory that could give you a chance to end Loki's plans before they can even start?"

"You have my attention. Go on." Steve encouraged.

Taking a deep breath, she began "When I spoke to him, he seemed a little off. Beyond what was obvious," Hanna directed at Stark who was rolling his eyes. "While he was yammering, I took advantage of him being distracted to take a look into his mind."

"Bet that was really trippy," Stark snarked.

"It was far from an easy experience. I wished that I had something to drink. But I did find something useful. His magic signature was wrong. It had been tampered with, to make it _look_ like it had been changed. A change that cannot be done, no matter how skilled a magic user is." Hanna finished.

"And what does that mean?" Steve asked, though he was starting to get the idea.

"I do not know if humans have a word or phrase for it…" Hanna was making motions with her hands.

Good thing Tony had always been skilled at charades, before thinking to himself, _"She looks like she's pulling something. Strings. Pulling strings. I know what Hanna's saying."_ Aloud he said, "You're saying that Loki is a puppet?"

Smiling for the first time that day, Hanna replied "That is exactly what I am saying Mr. Stark. Loki is under some form of mind control."

###

That was interesting news. If Hanna was right, they could put a stop to whatever Loki was up to before anything bad happened.

Steve turned to face the sorceress fully, before asking, "Let's say we believe you. Could you break this mind control?"

Hanna was silent for a moment before replying, "Yes. Yes I could."

###

"He still made it personal," Tony said.

"That's not the point." Steve said, trying to get the shorter man back on track.

"That IS the point. That's Loki's point! He hit us all right where we live. Why?" Tony shouted.

"To tear us apart," Steve replied. It was basic battle tactics.

"Yeah, divide and conquer is great, but he knows he has to take us out to win, right? THAT'S what he wants. He wants to beat us; he wants to be seen doing it. He wants an audience." Tony was on a roll. He also noticed that Hanna was nodding her agreement, before murmuring,

"He has always been an incurable show off."

"Right. I caught his show in Stuttgart," Steve stated.

"Yeah, that was just previews. This is - this is opening night. And Loki, he's a full-tilt diva, right? He wants flowers, he wants parades. He wants a monument built to the skies with his name plastered..." Stark trailed off. They all exchanged significant looks.

"Son of a bitch!" Stark exclaimed.

Hanna gave them a confused look. "What are you two talking with your eyes about?"

Tony replied, "I built a tower in New York City. It's what we call a skyscraper." At the sorceress's blank look, Tony explained, "A really tall building. It has my name on it and an energy source that more than suits his needs to activate the Tesseract."

Taking charge Steve commanded, "Stark get to work on your suit. Hanna, meet me in the hangar bay. I have two more people I need to get."

###

It was roughly fifteen minutes later when Hanna saw Captain Rogers walk in. Agents Barton and Romanoff were walking right behind him.

"What is _she_ doing here?" Romanoff asked moving her hand closer to her gun.

"She's coming along because we need her for what only she can do. We don't have the time for a fight between you two."

At that, Hanna fell into step behind Rogers. She winked at Romanoff.

Once they got to the flying vessel a SHIELD agent blocked their way saying, "You aren't authorized to…" Roger held his hand up, cutting him off saying, "Son, just don't."

The two SHIELD agents pushed their way past the man getting towards the front of the craft. Steve followed them.

The agent was left with the sorceress standing in front, she said, "As we can't have you following us…" The last thing he remembered was the woman putting her hand on the side of his face before blacking out."

###

"You didn't kill him did you?"

Hanna looked up and saw that Agent Barton had been the one who'd asked her the question.

"I just knocked him out. He will have a headache."

Hanna again looked at the interior of the airplane. It did not seem too sturdy.

"Are these things stable?" she asked.

###

Clint was watching the sorceress look around the airplane. She seemed almost edgy as she eyed everything with distaste.

"They're perfectly safe."

Clint could tell that Hanna wasn't comforted by his statement.

" _Perhaps she does not like flying?"_

He may have teased her if there had been time.

###

Tony had flown out shortly after the others who could not fly left on the smaller airplane.

He would still beat them there by a fair bit.

Tony also couldn't believe that what Hanna had said. That Reindeer Games was under some sort mind control. Mind control like that only existed in Star Wars movies, or so Tony had thought.

Tony had been wondering if there had ever been more than just a student/teacher relationship between the two. The younger looking sorceress's face had been suspiciously blank during the whole conversation. She had experience in hiding her emotions. There had been nothing, not even a flicker in her gaze.

In his time as a businessman, Tony knew that everyone had something to hide.

###

He should have known better than to try and penetrate the shield surrounding the cube/Tesseract with one of his blasts, but Tony had needed to try anyway.

As Tony had gotten his bearings back, he saw that Loki was indeed there, with the Glowstick of Destiny.

" _Sir the Mark VII is not ready for deployment."_ Jarvis mentioned.

"Well then skip the spinning rims, we're on a clock here!" Tony snapped back as he landed and his armor began to be removed. He kept his eyes on Loki the entire time.

As he got in, Loki sneered, "Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity?"

"Uhhh, actually, I'm going to threaten you." Tony had a feeling that being flip would piss Loki off all the more.

"You should have left your armor on for that." Loki pointed with the spear.

"Yeah…" Tony sighed before continuing, "It's seen a bit of mileage and you've got the Glowstick of Destiny."

Making his way towards the bar, Tony asked, "Want a drink?" This was where the bracelets for the Mark VII were hidden.

Laughing Loki asked, "Stalling for time?"

"No. Still threatening." Pointing to the liquor, Tony asked "You're sure?"

Loki ignored the question, walking towards the window before saying, "The Chitauri are coming. Nothing will change that. What have I to fear?"

Tony replied, "The Avengers. It's sort of a team. It's what we call ourselves. Earth's mightiest heroes…" he trailed off, pouring the whiskey before Loki interrupted snickering,

"Yes. I've met them."

"It takes us a while to gain any traction, I'll give you that one, but let's do a head count here: There's your brother, the demigod. The super soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend," Tony snapped on the bracelets as he went on saying, "A man with _breathtaking_ anger management issues, a couple of master assassins, and * **you*** managed to piss off every single one of them." Tony stopped for a moment before snarking, "Oh I almost forgot one person: That ex-apprentice of yours." Tony gave a low whistle, before going on with, "Pretty girl. Though I'm pretty sure she wants your head on a spike for whatever you did to her."

"For the first part of your little speech, that was the plan…" Loki started before Tony returned the favor of interrupting, "Not a good plan."

"In regards to Hanna, there are still possibilities." Loki finished with a smirk.

"Well, I may not know the _gory_ details of your prior relationship, but I don't think there are enough jewels in Christendom to get her to cooperate with you, but getting back on topic, When these people come, and they will, they'll come for you." _"And I don't want to get in Hanna's way."_ Tony thought to himself.

"I have an army." Loki hissed.

"We have a Hulk." Tony replied simply.

"I thought the beast had wandered off," Loki smirked.

Cutting the lunatic off, Tony said "You're missing the point. There's no throne. There's no version of this where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes, and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you." Tony paused for a breath before saying, "If we can't protect the Earth, you can be damn sure we'll avenge it." He took a sip from his drink.

Ignoring the speech, Loki moved slowly forward saying, "How will your friends have time for me, when they're so busy fighting _you_?"

Loki then tried to mind wipe him. The power around the tip of the spear dissipated. Loki tried it again, with the same results.

"This usually works," Loki muttered to himself.

"Well… performance issues are not _uncommon_. One out of five…" Tony started before Loki grabbed his neck and threw him across the floor.

" _Okay, two out of three hit like freight trains,"_ Tony thought before saying softly, "Jarvis… any time now." He got back up slowly, before Loki grabbed him by the neck again, growling, "You will all bow before me!"

"Deploy! DEPLOY!" Tony shouted as loud as he could before Loki threw him out the penthouse window.

###

Thankfully, Jarvis did manage to deploy the suit and had got to Tony before he kissed the pavement.

"We really need to work on your speed Jarvis!" Tony shouted as he flew back up.

The AI was silent.

Tony flew back up, level with Loki and snarled, "And there's _one_ more person you pissed off. His name was Phil."

Loki raised the spear to take a blast at him, but Tony beat him to the punch with one of his own.

To make matters worse, the cube got activated and the portal opened, with Loki's alien army pouring through.

"Right. Army." Tony muttered. He started to fight on his own, blasting the flying craft with both the beams and the missiles.

" _Where the HELL, are the others?"_

###

Loki was watching as the Chitauri army came forth from the portal. They were already starting to cause chaos. It made him smile with glee.

"Loki!" An only too familiar voice shouted. It seemed that Thor had survived the fall.

"Turn off the Tesseract, or I'll destroy it!" Thor ordered.

"You can't. There is no stopping it. There is only the war!" Loki hissed back at him.

"So be it," Thor replied.

Loki jumped down and their fight began. He was making use of his superior reach with the spear. He and Thor managed to knock off two of the letters from the tower.

###

The Avengers contingent in the airplane had finally arrived. They were too late, the attack had already started.

Steve heard Hanna mutter, "Damn it!"

Romanoff called into a receiver saying, "Stark, we're on your three, heading northeast."

" **What did you do, stop for drive through? Swing up Park, I'm going to lay them out for you!"** Stark replied.

###

Tony was flying around trying to shake the Chitauri gliders. Flying past the tower again, he saw that Loki was fighting Thor.

Finally he flew up Park. The plane with the others was coming up the cross street from the right.

Sure enough as he flew past, the bullets from the Vulcan cannon took out the gliders.

" _Sir, we have more incoming,"_ said Jarvis.

"Let's keep them occupied," Tony replied.

###

"So we need to get her to the top of the tower ASAP. See if we can't end this before it gets any worse!" Steve called out to Clint.

Clint, who was focusing on the flying shouted back to Hanna, "How exactly does you breaking the mind control work?" He was getting into position for her to teleport out with a clear line of sight.

Before Hanna could reply, Loki knocked Thor away long enough to shoot a blast on the wing and engine of the spear, throwing the plane out of control.

It was taking all Clint and Natasha had to keep the plane as steady as possible before it finally crashed and skidded into the pavement.

"I am **never** getting into one of those vessels again." Hanna groaned as she picked herself up from the crash.

Steve was the first one out of the craft followed closely by Hanna and Clint, with Natasha bringing up the rear.

The city was well on it's way to being destroyed. Hanna was looking around as she ran after Steve. This city was unfamiliar to her, so she would have to rely on the three with her.

As they got in front of a rather large building, the four heard a groan up in the sky. Looking up they saw more gliders and an even larger flying craft. Steve heard Hanna growl words in a different language, words that he would probably be happier not knowing.

As the group watched in disbelief as the Leviathan moved, Chitauri soldiers jumped from it into the buildings above.

Steve called out "Stark, you seeing this?"

" **Seeing. Still working on believing,"** Tony replied before asking, **"Where's Banner has he shown up yet?"**

"Banner?" Steve asked.

" **Just keep me posted!"** Tony snapped before asking, **"Jarvis, find me a soft spot."**

###

Meanwhile, back on the tower, Loki and Thor were still fighting. Thor shouted,

"Look at this, look around you. Do you think this madness will end with your rule?"

"It's too late." Loki murmured. He looked to be completely terrified.

" _Perhaps I have gotten through to him,"_ Thor thought before saying, "No. We can. We do it together."

For a moment, Thor thought that Loki was going to say yes, before he stabbed Thor in the side with a small dagger.

"Sentiment…" Loki scoffed.

Coming up from his knees, Thor came at Loki with his fists, breaking another one of the glass panes, knocking Loki to the ground before lifting him up in the air and dropping him to the ground.

Eager to avoid a further beating from Thor, Loki rolled off the tower onto a speeder that was nearby.

Thor yanked the dagger from his side, and just tossed to the ground.

###

To avoid energy blasts (and to formulate a plan of attack) the four on the ground, ducked behind a car.

"There are trapped civilians," Clint growled. He wanted a shot at Loki. Badly.

All of the sudden, there were sounds of more energy blasts, more destruction and chaos from above.

Steve muttered, "Loki."

The others heard the sorceress mutter another set of what was either profanity or a spell.

"I don't know what you just said, but it was definitely negative, right?" Clint shouted at Hanna as she moved into place, with several softball sized fireballs floating above her hands.

"That would be correct, Agent Barton!" Hanna shouted as she threw several of them at the gliders overhead, hitting them with ease.

Natasha had also started her fighting, using her guns.

"They're fish in a barrel down there," Steve said.

A squad of Chitauri fighters jumped down nearby, making their way towards the quartet. Steve had a feeling that their hiding place was about to be found.

Natasha stated, "Go ahead we got this."

To Clint, Steve asked, "Can you hold them off?"

"Captain, it would be my genuine pleasure!" Clint replied. He got up and fired one of the arrows, hitting one of the Chitauri then somehow managing to take out several more.

Steve spared Hanna a glance. The girl was busy setting several Chitauri aflame. He didn't need to give her any orders.

With that Steve jumped to the street below, barely avoiding shots from the Chitauri gliders.

###

Hanna and Natasha were keeping Clint covered as he was helping people out of the bus. The door had been jammed, so some were going out through the windows. But it was too slow.

The formerly jammed door slid open smoothly. Clint looked up, and saw Hanna give him a wink before going after another squad.

The civvies were now getting out smoothly.

As he went back to firing the arrows next to Nat, she shouted, "Just like Budapest all over again!"

Clint winced at the memory before shouting back, "You and I remember Budapest very differently."

###

Thanks to her very good hearing, Hanna overheard the entire exchange. She thought,

" _Mortals are so strange."_

She went back to fighting some Chitauri.

###

Steve kept on having to jump around to avoid the energy blasts from above and around the wreckage. He saw the cops trying to use their side arms to shoot down the gliders, to no avail.

Jumping up in front of them Steve commanded, "You have people stuck in these buildings. You need to get them into the subway, out of the way…" Before one of the cops interrupted sneering, "Why should we have to take orders from you?"

Conveniently, some Chitauri came up and with a few punches and slams with the shield, Steve proved his point. The cop in charge went off, barking the exact same orders that he had given only a few moments previously.

Steve had to grin at that. Then he went back to work.

###

Meanwhile, Tony was in the middle of one of his better ideas. Distracting the Leviathan. Firing off some flares, the thing turned around towards him.

" **Well, we got its attention, what the hell was step 2,"** Tony asked Jarvis.

He blasted off, taking the thing on a wild goose chase.

###

Back on the ground, Clint, Natasha, and Hanna were being kept very busy. There were Chitauri everywhere.

Hanna noticed that the redhead had gotten ahold of one of the Chitauri spears and was using it to great effect. Natasha reminded Hanna forcefully of Sif in both demeanor and fighting skill.

Clint had just gotten up from being tackled by a Chitauri fighter after stabbing it with one of his arrows.

Hanna glimpsed some Chitauri trying to sneak up on the two SHIELD agents from behind. Throwing several mid-sized fireballs, she watched as they melted into the ground from the heat.

Steve was slowly making his way back towards them using his shield to knock them away.

Three Chitauri were coming up on them, and before Hanna could get any fireballs up, they got incinerated by bolts of lightning. It was Thor.

Steve walked up to him first, asking, "What's the story upstairs?"

"The power surrounding the cube is impenetrable," Thor replied simply.

" **Thor's right. We've got to deal with these guys"** Stark said over the transmission devices in their ears.

"How do we deal with this?" Natasha wondered aloud.

"As a team," Steve said.

"I have unfinished business with Loki," Thor growled.

"Yeah? Get in line," Clint snarled.

"Both of you, back of the line. He's mine!" Hanna hissed. She updated Thor on her theory involving Loki being under mind control.

Thor actually had a hopeful look on his face. "Okay." He replied.

"You actually believe her?" Natasha snapped.

"Save it," Steve ordered before saying, "Loki's going to keep this fight focused on us and that's what we need. We've got Stark up top…" He trailed off as a motorcycle spluttered into their hearing. Banner had arrived.

The ones on the ground ran over. Banner got off the motorcycle saying, "So this all looks horrible."

"I've seen worse," Natasha replied.

"Sorry," Banner apologized.

"No. We could use a little worse," Natasha answered.

"Stark, we got him," Steve replied. He was almost smiling.

" **Banner?"** Tony asked.

"Just like you said."

" **Tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you,"** Tony replied.

Tony came around the side of a building, the Leviathan in hot pursuit.

"I don't see how that's a party." For once, Hanna was in complete agreement with the female SHIELD agent.

As Tony shot over their heads, Steve moved a little closer to Banner and said, "Doctor, now may be a good time for you to get angry."

Bruce was walking closer to the Leviathan before replying, "That's my secret Captain. I'm always angry." At that, he shifted into the Hulk, then punched the head of the Leviathan down.

At the point when it was balanced perfectly on its head, Tony shouted out, **"Hold on!"**

He then fired a missile into the middle of the thing, destroying it. Hanna was using a magical shield, Clint had ducked behind a taxi, Steve used his shield to cover both him and Natasha, with Thor just blocking his face, all in the name of avoiding the debris from the demolished Leviathan.

###

The Chitauri fighters shrieked at them, the Hulk roared back, clearly unimpressed.

Round one went to the Avengers by a narrow margin.

###

Meanwhile in the air, Loki ordered,

"Send the rest."

###

Looking up, Natasha murmured, "Guys." The others turned around and saw that there was another wave coming in.

" **Call it Captain!"** Tony said.

"Alright, listen up. Until we can close that portal, our priority is containment. Barton, I want you on that roof, eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Stark, you got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back or you turn it to ash," Steve ordered.

"Want to give me a lift?" Clint asked Tony.

"Sure. Better clench up Legolas," Tony replied, lifting Clint up to the roof.

To Thor, Steve said, "Thor, you gotta try and bottleneck that portal. Slow 'em down. You got the lightning. Light the bastards up."

With that, Thor began swinging his hammer and flew away.

To Natasha he said, "You and me, we stay here on the ground, keep the fighting here." Turning towards Hanna, "You stay here, until we can get you up to where you can fight Loki. And Hulk?"

The creature turned to Steve, with a maniacal grin.

Holding his hand up, Steve slowly said, "Smash!"

The Hulk obeyed that order with considerable glee, promptly jumping into the fray with several groups of Chitauri fighters, destroying both them and the buildings in his wake.

###

Thor flew to the tallest building that was closest to the portal. He channeled the power of the lightning through the metal building.

Once enough of the power built up, he shot it at the entering gliders, which were incinerated upon entry.

Several Leviathans were even destroyed as they tried to enter.

###

"Stark, you've got a lot of strays sniffing your tail," Clint called out.

" **Just trying to keep them off the streets,"** Tony quipped.

"Well, they can't bank worth a damn. Find a tight corner!" Clint suggested as he knocked out a glider without even looking at it.

Sure enough, Tony found the perfect tight corner. He was flying towards it with several gliders on his tail.

" **Oh boy!"** Tony muttered as he flew through. It was a tight fit even for him.

As he flew out, wreckage of the gliders came out behind him.

To Clint, he called back, **"Nice call. What else you got?"**

"Thor's taking on a squadron down on Sixth," Clint mentioned.

" **And he didn't invite me?"** Tony flew off in that direction.

###

Back on the ground, the Chitauri troopers were doing a more than adequate job in keeping Hanna, Natasha, and Steve busy.

While she was keeping an eye on Hanna in case she double-crossed them, Natasha noticed something particularly strange. The Chitauri were going out of their way to avoid harming Hanna, despite the sorceress not returning the favor.

After getting a trooper with her Widow's Bites, Natasha grabbed the spear it had dropped, before turning around to face her next attacker

Thankfully, it turned out to only be Steve. Lowering the weapon, Natasha leaned against a car, taking a breath before saying, "All of this will be for nothing if we don't get that portal shut."

Natasha got an idea as gliders flew overhead.

"You want to get up there, you're going to need a ride," Steve replied.

"I got a ride. Could use a lift though," Natasha said pointedly.

"You sure about this?" Steve asked.

"Sure. It'll be fun!" Natasha said with more confidence than she felt before running at Steve, who boosted her up to the bottom of a glider.

" _Now where did Hanna get off to?"_ Steve thought as he made his way to where the others were.

###

As Romanoff took control of the glider, Tony took care of the ones that were trying to shoot her out of the sky. Once he got to the ground, he blasted some away from Steve, using the shield to reflect the beams to kill several more.

Taking off again, Tony knocked several Chitauri off the nearest building and away from Barton who was shooting off some of his trick arrows.

###

Hanna, Thor, and the Hulk were fighting on top of another Leviathan that had come through the portal, each of the trio doing what they did best. The Chitauri were stopping giving Hanna any quarter as she was killing too many of them for that to be practical.

The Hulk jammed a fin that it had just torn off into the area near the head of the Leviathan. Using Mjolnir, Thor summoned a lightning bolt, causing the beast to crash into a rather large building.

As the trio got down from the wreckage, they all took a slight breath. Then, for no apparent reason at all, the Hulk punched Thor, sending him through several walls.

Hanna watched the green beast warily. She had no desire to be knocked through walls as Thor just did.

###

" _The Chitauri were both strong and slippery little suckers,"_ Steve thought. They moved one place one moment, and then barely a thought later they were someplace else.

Barton called out, "Captain the bank on 42nd past Madison. They've cornered a lot of civilians."

"I'm on it," Steve replied.

He dove in through a window, and threw his shield at a Chitauri. And none too soon, as it seemed to have been trying to activate a device of some sort.

This got the attention of the others who promptly started firing their weapons at him. Steve dove behind some desks, before kicking them back at the Chitauri, causing them to stop firing.

Steve went into hand to hand with them. They were good.

He managed to throw one into the atrium, before yelling, "Everyone clear out," before another Chitauri grabbed him from behind.

Steve knocked the creature away, before grabbing his shield. Another Chitauri picked up the activated device and threw it at him. It went off, blasting Steve back out the window and onto an overturned taxi.

Steve gingerly got up as the hostages flowed out of the bank.

###

Hanna looked up and saw that Loki was trying to get to the glider that Agent Romanoff had commandeered. This would likely be her last chance to get at Loki. But how to get to him without teleporting and the aftermath of trying to teleport onto a moving object?

She heard a loud roar behind her. Hanna smirked to herself. The Hulk would suit her non teleporting needs nicely. Now, she just needed to get its attention properly.

There was a convenient break in the fighting, so Hanna made her way over there.

The Hulk turned towards her. Hanna kept her hands up and away from her sword before saying, "Now that I have your attention, I need you to do something for me."

She supposed it was good thing that the Hulk hadn't done anything violent to her yet.

Speaking again, Hanna continued, "I need you to throw me at Loki's glider, so I can stop him."

The Hulk grinned at that. Hanna smiled nervously back thinking,

" _I hope this does not blow up in my face!"_

###

"Oh it's you," Natasha groaned. Loki had finally managed to make his way so that he could get into decent firing range.

"Nat, what are you doing?" Clint growled.

"Uhh, a little help!" Natasha was busy trying not to get shot out of the sky.

Clint readied one of his favorite arrows. _"Loki would *love* this one,"_ he thought with a wicked grin.

###

"Okay, now throw me!" Hanna yelled.

Without further ado, the Hulk launched her at Loki.

###

"I got him," Clint grinned as he let loose the arrow.

###

Loki caught the arrow with ease. He was completely distracted in giving Clint a look as Hanna came flying towards him.

What neither of them had realized was that this was an explosive arrow. As Hanna hit Loki, the explosion went off, knocking them both onto the balcony of the tower.

Clint thought, _"At least we got Hanna to where she can deal with Loki."_ He still wasn't entirely certain that the sorceress was telling them entire truth.

He turned back to more important things.

###

Hanna slowly picked herself up off the balcony, thinking, _"The Avengers certainly need to work on their communication skills!"_ She also vanished her cape. Hanna wanted nothing that could get in the way of her range of movement.

Hanna grinned as she lobbed a fireball at Loki, catching him in the chest. She said, "Rule number one for attack magic: Always attack first." There was a huge grin on her face.

She heard Loki laugh behind her, "You forgot rule number two, darling: Always make sure you are facing your opponent." A force of pure energy hit her in the back, sending her sprawling to the floor.

Hanna was picking herself up from the floor, when Loki ordered, "Lose the sword."

"Even though you no longer have any authority over me, I agree. Magic just makes the fight *much* more interesting," Hanna replied.

Without pausing, Hanna blasted away. She had gotten much better at the setting off the fireballs, while using less energy.

###

Natasha jumped from the glider onto the roof of the tower. The portal needed to be closed and closed quickly.

Looking to the ground, she saw Selvig lying on his side. His eyes were clear, hopefully he had his mind back.

"The scepter," the doctor murmered.

"Doctor?" Natasha asked.

"Loki's scepter. It's the way to close the portal."

Natasha looked to the lower level. She saw the scepter. Unfortunately, it was right between Hanna and Loki duking it out with magic. And Natasha was in no mood to become a crispy critter.

So she shouted, "Hanna toss me the spear!"

###

"I'm a little bit occupied at the moment, Agent Romanoff!" Hanna bellowed back as she dodged the barrage of energy that Loki sent her way.

She was not even winded at the moment and was doing much better than their previous bout.

Hanna flung a whole slew of smoky fireballs, meant to cloud Loki's vision for the few moments it would take to get to the spear and toss it to Romanoff.

Getting to it quickly, Hanna lobbed it towards her.

In doing so, Hanna paid for her distraction, and collided into the wall with a sickening crunch.

###

Natasha had to admit that she wasn't expecting the sorceress to be getting up after being sent into the wall like that.

The former Red Room operative could also admit that perhaps Hanna was a good fighter.

###

Hanna knew she needed to end this and end it soon. She set up several illusionary duplicates other than herself, and shouted, "Try finding me!"

She also grabbed her dagger from her boot (it had somehow managed to stay in there with the number of times she'd been thrown around the balcony)

All of the sudden, Hanna felt long fingers grab around her throat, and lifted her up off the ground.

"Looks like you have emptied your bag of tricks, Hanna!" Loki laughed.

Hanna's illusion of herself shimmered out of his grasp and she hit him in the back of the head with the butt of dagger while shouting, "Not Quite!"

###

Breaking mind control was harder and a lot more painful for the person doing the shattering than Frigga had led Hanna to believe. She felt both her mind and Loki's at the same time. It was like being in the middle of a windstorm.

Just as soon as it began, the two magic users were flung into opposite walls, Loki into a row of bookshelves and Hanna into shelves with glasses that shattered the moment she connected with them.

###

What could have been hours or mere moments Hanna began to pick herself up from the wreckage that had been the top most room of Stark's tower.

To Loki, she said with a maniacal grin, "This round goes to me I believe."

She heard him reply, "I did not teach you to fight like that, who taught you?"

"Your mother, Frigga taught me," Hanna shot back.

Loki looked at her like she was crazy. "I did not say anything, sorceress."

Thinking that he was just being difficult, Hanna snarled back, "I heard you ask who taught me to fight like that."

"I am not being difficult. I also know that your leg is bothering you again!"

Hanna tossed several possibilities around in her mind as to how he knew that as she was not even leaning on it.

Once she got to the last and worst one she screeched, "AH SHIT!"

* * *

 **A/N 2: Wow that was quite a ride of a chapter. Now what do you all think happened? Please tell me what you think! SSD**


	6. Seal our Fate

**Chapter VI: Seal our Fate**

 **A/N: Apologies on the long wait. You'll find out what happened at the end in this one. And a little cameo as well. Thanks go to Laura for her beta work. Italics are telepathic talking. Enjoy! SSD**

* * *

" **And in this twilight, our choices** _ **seal our fate**_ **" Mumford and Sons, Broken Crown**

* * *

" _I just need to get through the next couple of days here on Midgard. I can't believe I messed up that badly!"_ Hanna mentally groaned.

" _Stop thinking so loudly. You don't want the fool mortals to find out, do you?"_ Loki snarled back.

" _They aren't that foolish if they managed to beat you!"_

" _That would not have happened if you and Thor were absent!"_ Loki shot back.

" _Well we weren't absent, and here we are!"_ Hanna growled.

" _You were only just learning how to break mind control weren't you? Why did you even try?"_ Loki sneered.

" _I was the only one available that could break it. Now be quiet!"_ Hanna hissed back as Bruce entered the room she was in.

Hanna gave him a tight smile, before asking, "What can I do for you Doctor Banner?"

He was looking at her strangely. "Are you sure, you're alright? I may not know much about your people's physiology, but you got several good knocks through walls during your duel with Loki. Even if your bones are as much thicker as I think they are, it still had to hurt."

Hanna brushed off his concern, "I am fine, Doctor Banner. Now let's try some of the meat that Stark will not stop talking about."

To Loki she thought, _"Stay where you are. More trouble does not need to be caused, and trust me, I'll know if you start anything."_

###

But despite her brushing him off, Bruce still was watching the sorceress. She seemed a bit off at times, it was like she was talking to someone via telepathy.

Turning to Thor, Bruce asked, "Is telepathy one of Hanna's abilities?"

"I'm not the one to ask about that," Thor replied. "Why do you ask though?"

"Just wondering," Bruce went down to one of the undamaged labs to work on a few things.

###

While he was down there, Bruce got to thinking. It was really convenient that Hanna had managed to break the mind control that Loki had been under. The others hadn't bothered to ask her how she pulled it off.

Bruce believed that she had broken the mind control. But there were those times that she'd seemed to have clocked out. Then at some point during those timeframes, her eyes would glow like a Goa'uld on that Stargate show.

In the few science-fiction novels he'd read, mind control had popped up a few times. The breaking of the mind control, if it could be broken, was always a very precise thing, with a narrow margin for error.

Bruce had a horrible thought. He wanted to be wrong about it, because if he was right, it meant that Hanna had screwed the pooch, big time.

###

Tony seemed to be finding one thing out the hard way: The "out-of-town" guests could eat like starving wolves. And that was at every meal. At least breakfast was a meal that didn't eat ***** as ***** much during. Bruce had been eating more as well, since the Hulk required a lot of energy.

Tony noticed that Bruce was watching Hanna closely.

"Careful Bruce, she's probably spoken for back home," Tony smirked.

"That's not why I'm watching her. She seems a little… off."

"Those three are already different from us mere mortals," Tony said in reasonable facsimile of Hanna, Loki, and Thor's accents.

Ignoring that, Bruce continued with, "There seems to be something more going on, more than she's telling us."

"If there's a secret that she doesn't want us to know, it'll likely be like pulling teeth from an uncooperative mule," Tony replied.

"Then we will have to catch the secret out."

###

It turned out that having another person in your mind was really draining, especially when that person was Loki.

Hanna had an incredibly bad feeling that Doctor Banner was getting suspicious of her behavior. She'd been going out of her way to avoid him.

" _The beast is not *that* clever."_

" _You're the one who's confined to a room. You don't have to be around them. And they think that I succeeded in breaking the control you were under,"_ Hanna hissed mentally.

" _You did succeed,"_ Loki granted before saying, _"You just happened to leave out that you did not know how to break it well!"_

" _Shut up!"_ Hanna snarled. She was no longer in the mood for talking with him.

" _You dare?"_ The days where Hanna tiptoed around him were long gone.

Forgetting to use the link, Hanna growled, "I do dare, NOW SHUT UP!"

"Am I interrupting something?"

Hanna spun around, eyes wide with horror. Thankfully it was only Bruce.

"No, you're not," she replied tightly.

"Now I've got a working theory. While I believe that you were A) Right about Loki being under some form of mind control, and B) That you broke it, I still think you left something out. You've been acting a little off from what little I know of your personality. You clock out at random intervals, and during those times your eyes flash gold. You also look like you're talking to someone telepathically. And I don't recall you saying that telepathy was one of your abilities." Bruce finished, all his cards out on the table.

"I can explain everything, Doctor Banner," Hanna began before he said, "I'd certainly like to see you try to explain your little outburst."

"I certainly did break the mind control," she continued after the interruption, then she paused for a moment. To Bruce it looked like she was arguing with someone. Bruce had a very bad feeling as to who she was arguing with.

Hanna finished, "But I didn't do it correctly. I should have done it a bit more delicately."

"And the end result?" Bruce asked.

"The link didn't tie off the way it should. It latched onto the nearest available mind."

"Which was yours. And this means?"

It seemed that the Doctor was going to make her say it aloud.

"My mind is now linked with Loki's. And anything that happens to him, such as any kind of punishment, will rebound onto me as well."

Bruce had been afraid of that. It must be driving Hanna crazy.

His musings were interrupted when Hanna pled, "Please don't mention this. All we have to do is get back to Asgard, it'll get dealt with there."

Bruce waved around the room, "SHIELD probably already knows about it. Now, you need to deal with the fallout."

###

And there certainly had been fallout. SHIELD was irate (Hanna suspected that it was more the fact that they couldn't punish Loki the way they wanted rather than their anger at her) and the Avengers were split as to whether she had done this on purpose.

Hanna was not too surprised that both of the SHIELD agents figured she had screwed up on purpose. They'd both had nothing to say to her upon Fury's reveal.

Stark and Rodgers she couldn't quite tell what they were thinking on the matter. When Steve had turned to her with a question on his face, all Hanna had said was, "You only asked me if I could break the control. You did not ask if I could do well."

Hanna was glad that she could always count on Thor for believing her. It did not matter what the others thought. They had not been there in the aftermath on Asgard.

She was also surprised to find another person among the human Avengers that believed her. Bruce believed that she hadn't done this on purpose.

Still, Hanna chose to keep to her room, and if she went out, she would make herself invisible.

Apparently SHIELD wanted to make sure that she was telling the truth. But in the aftermath of the battle, they had no time to check for themselves. So they were bringing in a supposed expert on telepathy.

Hanna doubted severely that there was anyone on Midgard who qualified as a an expert on telepathy. Loki shared her sentiments.

That was before they both felt a presence unlike any they'd felt from a mere mortal.

" _Perhaps this is the supposed expert?"_ Hanna thought towards Loki.

" _I will believe that this man is an expert when I see it."_ Loki scoffed.

There was a knocking on the door. Hanna called out, "Come in."

Hanna thanked the Norns that it was Bruce at the door. Dealing with one of the SHIELD agents was not on her list of things to do today.

###

Loki was already in there waiting, sprawled indecently on the couch. Hanna rolled her eyes before taking a seat on a chair.

She could feel Loki poking around her mental walls. Hanna shoved him away.

While the two were focusing on their mental duel, the entrance of another went unnoticed.

###

Charles Xavier looked at the two beings in front of him. It was hard to believe that these two were well over 1000 years old, which was considered young by their people.

He could also tell that there was a little telepathic scuffle going on. But he would have to be careful. These two were beings of considerable power and likely had the ability to reduce him to a gibbering mess if they so chose.

To get their attention, Charles coughed. They turned their faces towards him, assessing him.

"He is the expert?" Loki was clearly unimpressed.

"Looks can be deceiving," Hanna shot back. Charles could tell that the two of them were on the verge of another argument.

Before things got out of hand, he cut in, "I'm sure you two know why I am here."

Before Loki could speak, Hanna started, "We are. And to make one thing clear, we are both fully capable of dealing with a nosey telepath who goes places he is not welcome."

Loki finished, "It would make anything else you have endured pale in in comparison."

Not surprised by the threats at all, Charles said in his best teacher voice, "I give you my word that I will not go anywhere other than to check out the mind link."

They nodded. Charles went in.

###

Charles wheeled into one of the lower level conference rooms where the others were waiting for him. He was exhausted.

Without waiting for him to speak, Stark blurted, "So… is the link for real and did she do it on purpose?"

"If it's not too much trouble, I need something to drink. Then I will tell you," Charles breathed.

Tony got up and went to the bar, asking, "What's your poison?"

"Calvados if you have it. And leave the bottle." Charles was rubbing his temples.

The Avengers were amazed when the old man poured a generous portion into his glass, and drank it without taking a breath. Once he was finished with the first drink and had poured himself another, Xavier began to speak, "That pair have two of the most convoluted minds that I've ever been in. Minefields would be less dangerous." He paused for another drink.

"But is the link for real?" Natasha asked. She needed to get back to SHEILD.

"Oh the link is very real. It is also well beyond my abilities to break." Turning to face Thor, he asked, "Perhaps someone back home may be able to do it, but the link itself is growing stronger by the hour."

"Did she do it on purpose?" Clint asked.

"The link to Loki was not Hanna's intent. She just wanted to break the prior mind control link, nothing more."

###

Two days later, the Avengers were in a quiet square. The out of town guests were getting ready to use the Tesseract to return home.

It was simple in the end. Thor had promised to return as soon as possible.

The trio disappeared a blaze of blue energy.

###

" _Little girl. You have stolen from me. And you will pay the price…"_

* * *

 **A/N 2: So… What do you all think? What did you think of the cameo? And who do you think is speaking at the very end?**


	7. You Would Have Done the Same

**Chapter VII: You Would Have Done the Same!**

 **A/N: Well, this chapter, we are back in Asgard. Some things will be the same, others different. I will be writing Odin fairly, not the complete asshole that so many people seem to like to write him. I do need to have him the way he was for a little bit, but even in this chapter, he won't be like it all the time. It's my story, I choose how I write critical characters. If some readers have a problem with that, please keep it to yourselves. Frigga seems to have the touch of talking Odin around to things that would better suit her views. Enjoy the update! Sparky She-Demon**

* * *

Even though she was far from the Throne room in her own quarters, Hanna was still watching what was going on from inside Loki's mind. Sure enough he was being his usual charming self, being flip with Odin.

" _Knock it off. You're on thin ice!"_ Hanna hissed at him mentally.

Loki of course ignored her.

"Loki desires a throne…"

"It was my birthright!" Loki shot back.

"Your birthright was to die! As a child, cast out onto a frozen rock," Odin snarled back.

Hanna could feel the anguish pierce through Loki. She felt it as if it were her own feeling.

She ran to the bathroom to retch. Hanna was more focused on trying to get the sick feeling out of her mind, so she let Loki be for a bit.

No sooner had she got to her feet, Hanna fell back to the floor in agony. He head felt as if it were being pressed on from the outside.

Before she could suppress it, Hanna screamed. The pain was intolerable.

###

Thor had been nearby when he heard Hanna's piercing scream. He ran through the open doorway, and what he saw tore at him.

Hanna was writhing on the floor, clutching at her head muttering, "Make it stop."

"Make what stop Hanna?" Thor asked trying to keep his eyes on hers.

Hanna was shaking back and forth, whimpering. Looking straight at him, Thor saw that her normally blue eyes were gold. He had an incredibly bad feeling why she was in so much pain. Hanna screeched, "The link! Stop Odin from breaking it!"

At that Hanna passed out. Thor checked for her pulse, and was relieved to find it there, but it was incredibly weak.

He did not want to leave her alone in this state. So Thor hefted Hanna up into his arms. It was truly convenient that the Healing rooms would not take him out of his way to the throne room.

###

Thor rushed into the throne room, not surprised to see Loki on his knees, doubled over in agony. He also saw that his eyes were flashing gold as well. The link was still in place, despite his father's best efforts.

His mother had beaten him to the Throne room. Frigga looked less than pleased.

Before he could say a word, his mother said, "Take Loki directly to Eir and no other. I need to have a discussion with your father."

Thor could tell that Loki was barely able to walk. The only chains that were left on him were the ones around his wrists. What told Thor that his brother was still in a great deal of pain was that Loki did not protest at his guiding him out of the Throne room.

###

Once Frigga knew that Thor was well out of earshot, she ordered the guards, "Leave us. I want to talk with my husband in private."

With a nod from Odin the guards left.

Before her husband could speak, Frigga said "That went over well." Her anger was barely concealed.

Odin replied, "The link has to be broken. It's the only way for Loki to be properly punished."

"At the price of a member of the most powerful and influential family on Vanaheim dying as a side effect? That wouldn't have gone over well. Things have been getting tense with that part of Vanaheim for years!"

Odin started to say, "Well I…"

Frigga interrupted him again, "Wouldn't it be a good thing, if there was someone who always knew what Loki was up to, who could keep him in check as much as possible? The link can be used as a good thing!"

"I will consider it. Nothing more."

###

When she woke up, Hanna could still feel the familiar buzz of the mind link. Odin had been unable to shatter it. Still, his attempt had left her weak, and from what she could tell now, barely able to move.

She was also unsure of how much time had passed from when Thor had come into her room and now.

Hanna, despite knowing she was weak at the moment, tried to get up from the bed.

"Don't even think about doing that!" Hanna saw that it was an apprentice healer.

Hanna still made her way to get up anyway. The apprentice healer made to stop her before Eir said,

"Let her be. She needs to learn on her own."

Even though Hanna was able to stand up unassisted, the moment she tried to take a step, her legs gave out from under her. She fell back onto the bed.

Hanna heard snickering through the mind link that she ignored. She'd get him later.

Eir turned back to her, "Now will you lay back down? You do not have the strength to get up and explore."

When the two healers left, Hanna sent mental head slap Loki's way.

" _What the devil was that for?"_

" _You know exactly what that was for. You aren't feeling any stronger than I am!"_

Before they could go on, Thor came rushing in. "Hanna, you need to come to the Bifrost observatory. Now."

"Thor I can't walk, much less get there in a hurry," Hanna replied.

"Can you ride?" Thor seemed nervous.

"Yes, I should be able to with some help. Why?"

"Your brother and a guard are there."

This got her attention. Thor picked her up in order to carry her to where the horses were.

"What's wrong?"

"Your brother would not speak to anyone besides you."

Speed was of the essence.

"Thor, fly me there." Hanna ignored Loki's squawking on the other end of the link.

With a deep breath, Thor picked her up and took off with a few swings of Mjolnir.

###

When they got there, Hanna barely had time to smooth her clothes before Ragnar enveloped her in a bear hug. He seemed to be having trouble not crying. Draugur was snuffling at her ankles.

"Not that I'm not happy to see you, little brother, what's going on?" Hanna asked.

Alarik spoke up when it became apparent that her brother was unable to, "Your father ordered me to get your brother to Asgard. Something strange is happening. Vanaheim has been attacked, but only our part of it."

###

Hanna was curious about that before she heard a voice in her head that wasn't Loki.

" _I told you, that you would pay little girl for taking what is mine. Now, I will take from you that which you hold most dear."_

* * *

 **A/N 2: Wow… what has happened?**


	8. End of the Line

**Chapter VIII: End of the Line**

 **A/N: Apologies on the long wait. I wanted to get this done just right. There was some writer's block as well. This was a difficult chapter for me to write, though things will get better, I promise. Hopefully the length will make up for the wait. Thank you Laura for your beta help!**

* * *

" **My dear, here's a sign, it's the** _ **end of the line!**_ **" In the Dark of the Night.**

* * *

Through the link, Hanna asked Loki,

" _Did you hear that?"_

The silence at the other end of the link told Hanna everything she needed.

" _You did hear it. Who or what was it? Explain!"_ She snapped, getting even more frantic.

Hanna could feel his reluctance to share this information. She also felt an unusual emotion from Loki. He was afraid.

A few moments of mental prodding, Loki answered, _"That voice was the voice of Thanos. He is the one who I was going to be giving the Tesseract to when I took Midgard. The Avengers and you interfered with that. He also saw me as his own personal toy to play with, as did his second in command The Other. You broke their control over me. This is likely your punishment from them. You may want to get as much of your family who isn't already fighting to Asgard. Ask Heimdall to do it."_

" _Why would attacking my home realm be punishment?"_ Hanna asked.

" _He's likely going to be going after what he figures you care about the most. Since he can't get at you in Asgard. He's going after your family. Get as many of them out, now!"_ The last part had actually been loud enough that Ragnar had also heard it through the family telepathy link. His face was devoid of color as well.

Turning towards Heimdall, Ragnar asked, "Please use the Bifrost to get what you can of our family out. It's important."

With a look to Thor, who nodded, Heimdall went to work.

Hanna thought to the Norns, " _Please let some portion of my family escape this catastrophe."_

The Norns rarely listened to anything besides their own whims.

###

Hanna had teleported herself, Ragnar, and Draugur back to her rooms after a short chat with Thor.

"You probably should not have done that. You look like you died and were brought back to life. What happened on Midgard beyond Loki trying to take it over? Thor was not exactly clear," Ragnar asked, questions clear in his tone. Hanna looked away from him, unsure of where to start.

Ragnar strode over to his sister, hugged while saying, "You can tell me anything."

Thinking for a moment, Hanna said, "All right, I will tell you more of what happened on Midgard. But you have to promise to stay silent until I am done with it."

Ragnar nodded and sat down to listen.

"As I'm sure you are already aware, Loki tried to take over Midgard. What is not yet common knowledge, is that he was under mind control of a being known as the Mad Titan."

"Go on," Ragnar said. He was getting a really bad feeling about where his sister was headed.

"I had just started learning about mind control and how to break it from Frigga. Also, I was the only person available and capable of breaking it. While I broke it, I did not do it properly. What was supposed to be a clean break, was more jagged. His end of the link attached itself to the nearest available mind." Hanna paused to take a drink from the jar of mead.

Before his favorite sister could speak again, Ragnar said, "Your mind is linked with Loki's?"

"Yes, and it is far from pleasant!" Hanna replied, wincing.

" _Your mind is not exactly fun place to be either!"_ Loki snipped.

" _I'm *trying* to talk to my brother, leave me be!"_ Hanna shouted back.

"You were talking to him weren't you?" Ragnar asked.

"Yes. He was getting snippy. Where was I? Ah, yes the link attaching itself to my mind. Let's just say that the people he was, and I am using the phrase loosely, working for were far from pleased with my interference. I took away their favorite toy." Hanna finished, waiting for Ragnar to put the pieces together.

It did not take him long to figure it out. "The attack at home. He's punishing you. But what is the punishment beyond that?"

"He's going to kill as many of my… _our_ family as he can find. You're lucky father sent you here with Alarik. I really hope that Heimdall gets to some of our family before it's too late." Hanna was completely ashen.

Ragnar shivered, despite the warm spring air.

###

A few minutes later they heard a woman shouting, "Where's her room, I want to hear why my daughter and I were just scooped up by the Bifrost and whether it has anything to do with the fighting at home!"

Turning towards his sister, Ragnar said, "Looks like Heimdall got a hold of Aunt Maila and Kara. You want to tell her or should I?"

Maila burst into the room. Hanna took a look at her aunt who she had not seen since Astrid's wedding. Maila stood taller than most men and was a true force of nature. She also could have a warped sense of humor and a sharp tongue that could rival Loki's.

Her aunt hugged her and asked, "Do you have any idea what's going on?

Taking a deep breath Hanna replied, "I do, and please listen without interrupting me. There's a lot to talk about."

After listening to her niece's tale(Hanna had left out the mind link for the moment), Maila whistled, "You sure picked some people to piss off, Hanna."

Her aunt's tone reminded her forcefully of one of the Avengers she'd met on Midgard, Tony Stark.

"Well, now let's who else Heimdall is going to be picking up."

###

A short time later, Hanna's nephew Magnus burst in, running straight to Hanna. He was in tears and for a good reason.

He kept on mumbling, "Mama's dead." Hanna's face went white. Ingrid was dead. She had a feeling that the death toll on her family was going to rise. Thanos had started with her direct family.

###

For the next couple of hours there had been no new news. They'd all went to the library, just to get out of Hanna's room and to get moving.

Hanna and Ragnar were playing chess, or trying to anyway. There was too much on their minds to play particularly well.

Ragnar watched his sister closely. She was distracted (not too surprising) and not playing with her usual ruthless edge.

He also thought about what Hanna had told him. That when she broke the mind control Loki was under, she brought the wrath of the Mad Titan and his minion down on their part of Vanaheim.

Loki had been trying to talk to her via the link (Ragnar could tell when she was "talking" to him), but Hanna had been ignoring him for the most part. Ragnar was also able to tell that Hanna had done the telepathic equivalent of slamming a door in his face.

Ragnar would have paid good money to have seen the look on Loki's face when she did that to him!

The door to the library slammed open, it was his cousin Sven. He was covered in filth and blood from the battle. Maila went over to check him over, he waved her away saying, "None of it is mine."

Looking up at everyone, he said softly, "I think we need to get down to the healing rooms." To his mother he said, "Dad's wounded, but he'll live. But he still wants to see you Focusing on Hanna and Ragnar, "You two most of all."

Ragnar had a _really_ bad feeling about the news!

###

They were about halfway to the healing rooms when Hanna asked, "How bad is it, Sven? Were the invaders beaten back?"

"They were. At a high price. It seemed that the invaders were not content to only fight those who could fight back. Small children and the women who were unable to fight back." Sven was not even bothering to conceal his disgust.

"What of Uncle Haakon?" Ragnar asked.

"He was one of the first killed outright. So were Aron and Lars. Good thing that your father and mine were there to take things in hand. We did not actually lose that many of our soldiers. The focus was on our family alone. It's not quite clear why we were picked out."

Hanna and Ragnar exchanged looks. Hanna was not ready to have that chat with Sven just yet.

"So who's not dead?" Hanna asked as composed as she could make herself, given the situation.

"Other than who was not already here? There's myself, Jakob, our father/your two's uncle, your father, and Erik." Sven looked away from them at that point.

"What is Erik up to?" Hanna asked.

"He's burying Ingrid on his own. He wants blood."

Ragnar cut Sven off with something with a question that had been niggling at him.

"Why haven't you mentioned our father yet? Is he alive or dead?"

" _Now comes the hard part,"_ Sven thought to himself. "Your father is here, but…" Sven looked away from his two surviving cousins.

"What is it Sven? You can tell us." Hanna placed her hand on his arm.

Wanting to get it over with now, Sven said, "Your father is wounded badly. It took everything we had to get him to Asgard without him bleeding out. He is stable for now, but is not likely to live out the night. There is only time for the two of you to say your goodbyes."

The blood drained from both of their faces.

Hanna turned to Ragnar, whispering, "You can go first. I need to get my thoughts together."

Sven stayed with Hanna while Ragnar did just that. The others just caught up with them. Sven supposed that it was good that his father was at a different healing room, since his wounds were not life threatening. He'd already seen him.

Hanna suddenly spoke, "Were _all_ Lars and Aron's family's killed?"

"Yes. The boys first. Why do you ask?"

Hanna looked to be working something over in her mind, before murmuring, "I was thinking of the line of succession. With our uncle, along with his sons and their families being dead, my father is king for the moment, right?"

Sven caught onto her line of thinking. He went ashen as Hanna whispered, "Ragnar's going to be king."

###

"He's going to have to get used to that idea. I don't think he wants the job," Sven whispered.

"Anyone who wants to be a king, I wonder about their sanity." Hanna said aloud. Via the link she said, _"I'm including you in that statement!"_

Before either of them could continue speaking, Ragnar left the room. "Hanna, Dad wants to speak to you."

Hanna got up, and gave Loki a sharp mental poke while telling him, _"I'd appreciate if you left me alone for this!"_

###

Hanna was nervous as she walked towards the door. The last time she had spoken to her father, there had been words of anger spoken. And now he was on his deathbed.

Her hands were shaking so hard, she couldn't open the door.

" _Get yourself together. You need to say goodbye to your father, and apologize for what you said. This will be the last time you'll ever get to speak to him."_

###

Hanna was surprised at how cleaned up her father was. She could still see the bandages across his chest. His eyes were shut, but Hanna could tell that he was still breathing, but only just.

"Hello father."

He managed to open his eyes, smiling as his saw his only surviving daughter in front of him. Sven said, "You are so much like your mother."

Hanna thought the pain was starting to addle him. "I don't look anything like her, father. Ingrid was the one who looked like mother. Never me."

"There are more ways to resemble someone other than physically. Ingrid may have had her look, you have her temperament. She would have done anything for a friend or a family member, no matter what."

Hanna felt a twinge of guilt at her father's statement. It was exactly what she'd done with Loki, and look where that had gotten her!

"I'm sorry for what I said the last time we spoke. I was out of line. There was no way for you to have told me. You wouldn't have been much of a father, if you had lost your head." Hanna smiled a little.

"Now that my life is at the close, I want you and Ragnar to be as happy in your new situations. He'll need your help."

"And Ragnar will get it. Not just from me but the rest of the family."

Before her father could reply, he breathed his last. Hanna closed his eyes, then kissed his cheek.

"Goodbye papa."

Hanna walked towards the door, her legs and heart heavy, opened it, bowed to her brother, and murmured,

"The King is dead, long live the king."

All of the sudden she teleported out, before Sven and Ragnar could say anything.

Sven also bowed to his much younger cousin, who was now king.

"Stand up straight please. We need to tell the rest of the family, then find where my sister went off to. There's more that she hasn't told what's left of the family," Ragnar's face was white.

"What else is there, your Grace?"

"Don't call me that, please. I haven't been crowned yet, and I will tell you all as a group."

###

"She left that out when she told us what happened on Midgard," Maila murmured. Her niece was sure in a major pickle.

"So he can't be punished, for _anything_?" Erik snarled. He was less than thrilled at this news.

"Where is Hanna?" Jakob asked.

Sven and Ragnar looked at their feet before Sven replied, "Shortly after Uncle Sven's death, she just teleported out. We don't know where she is."

"She likely feels as if this tragedy is her fault. We have to keep her from doing anything… foolish." Jakob said in a soft voice before continuing with "Especially if the nature of the link is as she says she is. And since we have no idea of where to look for her on Asgard, there's only one person who can help us find her."

"Norns, no. We can't ask him for help!" Erik growled through gritted teeth. He knew that if he went anywhere near Loki, he would pummel him (or try to anyway) into the ground.

"I will ask him for help, she's my sister." Ragnar left the room.

"I'll go with him, he may need me to help with Hanna." Jakob ran out of the room after his cousin.

###

After trying to find Loki's rooms for nearly an hour, Ragnar was starting to get frantic, when he finally ran into the younger prince in the library.

Nod in the mood to deal with the pleasantries, Ragnar asked "Where's my sister?"

"I haven't seen her. How should I know where she is?" Loki didn't even look up from his book. He could also feel Hanna's anguish as if it were his own. It was quite painful. It was taking everything he had to not get sick.

"I know about the link, I know you don't need to have seen her to know where she is. I'm trying to find her before she does anything foolish. After all, you should have a vested interest in finding her before she does that. She dies you die with her." Ragnar had a tight smile on his face.

"I wouldn't want his Majesty to lose any more family than he already has. I know where she is, but you are to let me coax her down first."

Both Ragnar and Jakob followed Loki. Jakob, being a true empath, could see the fluctuations in the link that Ragnar could not. It was real.

###

"IT'S NOT MY FAULT, IT'S YOURS!" Hanna yelled when she saw three all too familiar faces. _His_ face was among them.

Jakob, decided to go into soothing mode, "Hanna please get down from there. Why don't we all talk?"

Even from where he was standing, Jakob could see the bright gold swirling in her eyes. He also had a feeling that Loki's eyes were a similar gold.

Thankfully, Hanna decided to teleport down from the tower. Her anger was so potent, it made Jakob flinch.

"If you hadn't gotten into your mess with Thanos, I wouldn't have had to save your scrawny ass on Midgard!" Hanna snarled.

"I did not _ask_ you to save me down there!" Loki yelled back.

Hanna had a gleam in her eyes, before she made a sharp wave, that made Loki fall to his knees, "Now the link is blocked at your end. I can see into your mind, but you cannot see into mine. Now if you'll excuse me, _your Highness_ , I have to leave with my family. We have funerals and a coronation to attend to."

With that Hanna waved her hand again, she sent Loki into a wall. She felt better than she had felt in a while.

Turning her back on her former instructor, Hanna walked towards two members of what was left in her family.

* * *

 **A/N 2: Next chapter we'll be back on Midgard! I'd love to see what you guys think! New to the story family member face claims:**

 **Jakob- Ben Barnes (picture him he was in Seventh Son)**

 **Edvard- Sean Bean (more Boromir than Ned Stark)**

 **Maila- Allison Janney**

 **Erik- Richard Armitage**

 **Kara and Magnus are still uncast.**


	9. Nightmares are Real

**Chapter IX: Nightmares**

 **A/N: The long wait I apologize for. I had to deal with moving, and a screwy word processor. And thanks go out to anyone who helped with this chapter! Oh and this is where there is a rating change! SSD**

* * *

" **And soon she will see, that her** _ **nightmares**_ **are real!" In the Dark of the Night, Anastasia**

* * *

Hanna was back on Midgard after her brother's coronation ceremony. Here, she would have to deal with others knowing what had happened as a result of her breaking the mind control. She still was wondering if it had been worth the price she and her family had paid.

Looking around, she could tell that it was night where she was on Midgard. Thankfully, she had been set down near New York City. Now, all she had to do was find her way to that tower.

She also changed into the local clothes she'd gotten while she was Stuttgart. Her armor would attract unwanted attention.

* * *

The city at least looked halfway decent, despite the heavy damage Loki and the Chitauri army (Hanna knew that Loki had never been the one in charge, so she refused to call it _his_ army). It was hard to believe that it had only been a few weeks.

After getting out of the cab at the tower, (Hanna had needed to mess with the driver's mind to make her think she'd paid him) she looked at the building. It looked better than most of the others around it. Then again, from what she had been able to tell, Stark had more than enough money to speed things along.

Her brother's coronation had happened pretty much identically to what she had seen in the vision from Mimir's Well all those years ago.

 _Her brother was sitting on her uncle's throne, with people bending knee to him. There was a sadness in his eyes as he took in the scene. She saw her cousin Sven, and his younger siblings Kara and Jakob along their mother, her Aunt Maila. She also saw her nephew Magnus and her sister Ingrid's husband Erik, who had a haunted look in his eyes._

 _Then she saw herself, standing to her brother's left. Wearing a suit of armor and a sword on her hip. She had a similarly haunted look like Erik's._

Hanna shook her head to clear her thoughts. She had not gotten any real sleep since the night after Ragnar's coronation. Sleep came in fits and starts. She had no idea why her slumber was being disturbed.

Getting back to the link, Hanna could still tell what Loki as up to. Shockingly, he'd actually been behaving himself, with only a few minor pranks that were within his now limited magic abilities.

Hanna had been able to ascertain which of the Avengers were in the tower at the moment. Both of the SHIELD agents were not around (Hanna was pleased with this). Captain Rogers was also absent, apparently doing something for the organization.

* * *

Hanna made her way through the entrance area, towards the devices she knew were called elevators.

"Excuse me, where are you going?"

She turned around and saw a woman with brown hair sitting from behind a desk. Hanna really had zero time and interest to deal with any kind of difficult behavior.

"I am heading up to the tower. Mr. Stark is expecting me."

"I can't let you up there without some form of authorization."

Hanna was about to set the woman aflame (she was in a really foul mood), when a familiar voice sounded out,

"Good to see you here, Hanna. I'll take you upstairs." It was Doctor Banner.

"Thank you."

* * *

During the trip in the elevator, Bruce took some time to look Hanna over with a doctor's eye.

She looked like she had been through Hell and back. When Thor had arrived with a power hampered Loki, without Hanna, he and Tony had been told why Hanna was not there with them.

It sounded like the ending of Godfather part 1. On acid.

Bruce had known the pain of losing someone he loved. When he had been a small child, his father had murdered his mother while Bruce had ran and hid like his mother told him to.

"How are you doing?" Bruce knew that it was a lame question to ask, but he had to start somewhere.

"I've been better. Where is he?"

"He's working on repairing the city. Things are actually going a bit faster because of him," Bruce replied.

"Good to hear," Hanna replied distractedly.

"Would you like something to eat?" Bruce asked.

"Sure."

* * *

The other Avengers were leaving her be. Hanna preferred that.

Loki was also mostly leaving her be. For the better part of the week she'd been there, he had tried speaking to her a few times. Hanna however was in no mood to talk with anyone. Least of all him.

She was tired. But she did not want to sleep. She had been getting gut wrenching dreams about what was left of her family dying or turning their back on her. Hanna kept on waking up expecting to see blood on her hands.

* * *

Loki knew the look in Hanna's eyes.

Loki made his way back to his quarters to lay down, his latest run in with Hanna leaving him feeling drained. If she'd just let him back in, he could help her deal with all the garbage that Thanos was throwing at her. But she'd made up her mind to close down their mind link, and now he was concerned for her sanity.

He closed his eyes, a heavy sigh escaping him. He felt the darkness tugging him under and gave into it as a dream began.

 _Hanna quickly made her way down the corridor trying to find a place where she could hide from Loki indefinitely. He'd made yet another indecent proposal to her and she'd punched him before storming out of the room, his yells of "You can't hide from me Hanna. You know this is what you want!" ringing in her ears._

 _She knew he'd make his way after her, but he'd do it slowly, taunting her the whole time. Thank God she'd decided to block the mind link. She found an emergency exit and started making her way up the stairwell, her footfalls heavy on the concrete steps._

 _Loki made his way to the end of the hall and saw the emergency exit. A smirk pulled at the corners of his lips knowing this was the way Hanna had gone. He entered the stairwell and listened. Hanna's steps lightened when she heard the door below her open, not wanting to give herself away. Loki leaned over the railing and looked up, "I'm coming for you Hanna, you can't hide from me forever."_

 _He began his ascent of the stairs after her, listening periodically to ensure she hadn't ducked out into one of the upper floors. "Haaannnnaaa!" He singsonged. "You really don't want to run from me Hanna, it will only make this harder."_

 _She bolted through the next door she came to and ran down the corridor checking the doors as she went. The first open door she found she ducked inside, slamming it behind her and leaning back against it. Her chest rose and fell as she fought to get her breathing under control._

 _Loki exited the stairwell, certain he had the right floor, and moved down the hall. He stopped at the door she had entered minutes before and placed his hand upon it. He listened for a moment and then moved on._

 _Hanna watched as his shadow moved across the opening at the bottom of the door and then moved on. She waited ten minutes before quietly opening the door and peering out. Loki didn't appear to be anywhere in the hall so she slipped out and headed back towards the stairwell._

 _She moved quietly down the hallway, daring one glance behind her as she approached the stairwell. It would prove her undoing as she ran into what felt like a wall. She closed her eyes on a heavy gasp, knowing exactly whom that wall was._

" _Hanna, Hanna, Hanna, I told you that you couldn't hide from me. And because you made this so hard," he snapped his fingers, instantly teleporting them to his room. Hanna wasn't surprised that Loki's room resembled his room on Asgard, decorated in rich dark tones with books filling every shelf. Everything was in its place and a king sized bed took up the wall by the windows. Not that it mattered; she was just assessing the room and looking for a way out. Unfortunately, Loki was standing between her and the door leading to the hall._

" _If you're looking for a way out darling, you can forget about that, I don't intend on letting you get anywhere other than my bed."_

" _Over my dead body!" she spat out._

 _Loki approached her slowly, "I'd hate to damage any part of your lovely body Hanna." She started backing away from him forgetting that she was only a few feet from the far wall of his room. When her back met the wall, fear and panic coursed through her. "Ehehehe, I will not hurt you Hanna," Loki said. "I only wish to show you extreme pleasure."_

 _He closed in on her and she looked up into his piercing green eyes, her breathing rapid. Loki was calm as he stared into her blue eyes. He placed his hands upon her shoulders, felt a slight trembling as he pinned her in place. "You know you cannot take your mind off me dear. Even as you stand there, pretending that you do not care for me, I can hear your heart pounding against your rib cage. I can see your fingers twitch as they resist reaching out to touch my face, and I can taste your desire as your cheeks flush and you run your tongue over your bottom lip. You want me. All you have to do is ask, my sweet. Loki pushed against her as he claimed her mouth, a low growl escaping him as a soft moan broke from her._

 _Loki snapped his fingers again. This time she found herself bound to his bed, arms and legs, with silk scarves, her clothing mysteriously gone. Loki stood beside the bed, a smile playing on his lips as he reached out to drag his fingers along her thigh. "So beautiful, and all mine." He moved his hand up higher, letting it slide between her legs._

 _She wanted to clamp them shut, to keep him from finding out how badly her body was betraying her. Her mind was screaming for him to stop, but every touch of his fingers on her body, his breath against her cheek when he broke the kiss, and let's not forget that kiss, made her want him in ways that would make most women blush._

 _As his fingers dipped into her folds; a smile spread across his face. "You're so wet for me darling, your mind might be telling you no, but your body clearly wants this." She fought desperately against the feelings Loki was eliciting, her body totally betraying her. Soft whimpers fell from her lips as he moved up and slowly began to stroke her clit. "That's it Hanna, give in to it, come for me." A few more strokes and her climax ripped through her body, his name a ragged scream from her lips._

 _Before she could protest, Loki moved up and claimed her mouth in a kiss, his tongue sliding between her lips with very little effort. His tongue tangled with hers as his hand found one of her nipples. Rolling it between his fingers before tweaking it harshly made her gasp against him. He stood back to take her in. Her skin was flushed, her eyes dilated, and her breathing still wasn't under control. Her eyes roamed the length of his body, coming to a stop when she realized how ready he was to take her. "See something you like darling?" he asked, snapping his fingers one final time. His clothes disappeared as he positioned himself at the foot of the bed._

 _He slowly crawled up her body, stopping at the apex of her thighs. She was squirming against the bonds that held her, but this time he knew it was different. Her movements coupled with her gasps and whimpers told him she wanted him and she wanted him now. "Patience my dear Hanna," he said as he dipped his head between her thighs…_

…Loki woke with a start. His heart was pounding in his chest and his dick was hard as a rock. He groaned as the last remnants of his dream played out in his mind. He needed to take care of the aching need between his legs. His hands and a cold shower would be his only companions this night.

What was going on? He had never had these thoughts about Hanna before. Even when he was planning to use her to punish her father for his knowledge about his Jotun ancestry, he had not thought of her in this manner.

It was that damned link. It had to be. Even with her blocking it, it was the only way to explain things.

* * *

Hanna again had not slept much that night. For the first time in days, it wasn't the doing of the Mad Titan. She'd gotten one of _those_ dreams again, that made her warm and achy all over. The water in the tower was nowhere near cold enough for her needs, but she'd had to make do.

She also was noticing that her magic was starting to be affected by her lack of sleep. It was still working thankfully, but it was being difficult. It had been nearly a week since she had arrived on Midgard, her temper

It seemed that Loki was finding a way into her mind, even though she was blocking him.

Hanna got up and got ready for the day. She had the very bad feeling that it was going to be a long one!

* * *

The Mad Titan was pleased. Soon if she did not reestablish the link, the princess would be under his thrall.

* * *

Loki saw what Hanna looked like. She was on borrowed time. Soon, Thanos would be able to use her for Norns alone knew what.

He went to his brother and said, "You need to get to Vanaheim and get one of Hanna's relatives. Preferably the empath. They need to persuade her to reestablish the link, before the Mad Titan has her under his control. And you need to do it fast."

Thor asked, "Why don't you try persuading her?"

"She won't talk to me, now GO!" Loki shouted.

Thor was surprised that Loki seemed to care. But then again, it was in his interests that Hanna remained on as even a keel as possible.

* * *

The Avengers were surprised a few hours later with the presence of another "out of town guest".

"Where's my cousin," the grey eyed man asked.

Bruce answered, "I'll take you to her. She's in her room."

* * *

Jakob was quiet as the Midgardian took him to his cousin. After Thor had given Ragnar what was going on, and since Ragnar himself couldn't go, Jakob had volunteered to go reason with Hanna.

Jakob entered his cousin's room with caution. He winced at the emotions that she was broadcasting: Pain, anguish, rage, and exhaustion.

"Hello Jakob. What are you doing here," his cousin asked.

"Checking on you. You don't look so good," Jakob replied before continuing with "Look, I know you don't want Loki in your head, but is being controlled by the same being that controlled him worth it? You don't want what's left of our family to lose you, especially when the solution is well within reach?"

Jakob knew that bringing up their family would be the only thing that would get his cousin's attention.

After a while of considering, Hanna said, "Fine. I'll let him back in. But if he goes anywhere I don't want him to go..."

Jakob held his hand up with as small grin saying, "He'll regret it. And he'll be lucky if he only has to deal with *you*."

He could tell, due to his empathic abilities, when the link came back to full force. Hanna had some color back in her face. She was also about to give into her exhaustion.

"Get some sleep cousin. And I'll be here on Midgard when you wake up."

She didn't even hear him. Hanna was out cold.

* * *

 **A/N 2: Again, I can't apologize enough for the lack of updates. I have to write everything by hand now. So... I hope this chapter was worth the wait?**


	10. Prank Attack!

**Chapter X: Prank Attack!**

 **A/N: Again, I'm sorry about the long wait. Russian is in bold, used google translate for it. This takes place a few months after the chapter before this one. Carolyn has helped a lot! SSD**

* * *

Hanna really enjoyed the Midgard shower. It was a lot faster than baths.

The weather had been so hot, and the cool spears of water hitting her skin were heavenly. She lathered a pretty blue liquid over her body, the light floral scent delighting her. It reminded her of her mother's perfume.

She smiled at the distant memory of her mother, though at the same time it made her slightly sad to think of her.

Hanna rinsed off and stepped out of the shower, grabbing the towel and drying herself down. As she turned she caught sight of herself in the long mirror. Her piercing scream echoed around the tower.

* * *

Loki heard the scream and felt the sudden stab of outrage and shock from Hanna.

 _"How could she possibly be in danger here?"_ Loki wondered as he teleported straight to her without a second thought.

It figured that she was in her bathroom. He was speechless as he saw that her skin had somehow been turned Frost Giant blue.

Hanna jumped when she saw him and threw a fireball at him, which he was barely able to block.

He realized what he was doing and teleported straight out again as Hanna scrambled for her robe, rage clear in her eyes.

Back in his room several thoughts hit Loki at once. One was anger at Stark - obviously the culprit, yet another of his increasingly tiresome pranks. He'd been slowly working his way through everyone in the tower. Stark hadn't had the temerity to prank him... yet.

Another was confusion at why he had been so quick to teleport to her aid. Was the link changing him? A third, uncomfortable, thought was how beautiful Hanna was. She'd always looked magnificent in blue. Loki determinedly stifled the warmth this thought brought about in certain areas of his anatomy. He had more important things to deal with.

Like dealing with Stark.

* * *

Tony was in the living room with Thor and Natasha. They had heard Hanna scream - everyone had heard her. Hanna was not someone who screamed without a good reason. For a moment, Tony wondered if it was anything to do with his prank. It was just a bit of dye, he couldn't see that she would be that upset.

He didn't have much time for any further thoughts on the matter, before he found himself pinned by the neck by an apoplectic Loki, whose eyes were flashing crimson.

"You go too far, Stark," he growled into Tony's shocked face. "You have hurt her. If she doesn't kill you herself, you will count yourself _very_ lucky. If you do anything like this to her again, you better pray to whomever you pray to that she's the one who finds you before I do!"

He teleported back to his room again and paced, confused and angry, waiting until he could sense Hanna had calmed a little

Back in the day room, Nat and Thor were staring expectantly at Tony. Natasha was giving him a particularly nasty look.

"What?" he looked at them, massaging his sore neck. "What got Loki so uptight?"

"What did you do, Tony?" Nat looked at him accusingly. She had a feeling that Tony's pranking spree had found it's way to Hanna. Tony was likely starting with her before moving onto Thor and Loki to try and prank.

"Nothing. Just a little joke that's all."

"We know of your jokes, Stark. Hanna would not be so upset by a simple prank." Thor was confused. Loki had pranked Hanna before the Incident, and she'd never reacted like that.

"Just a bit of dye in the shower gel that's all. I don't know why she'd be so upset. She'll just be a bit blue for a while."

Now it was Thor's turn to be angry. In a deadly calm voice he asked, "Blue? Why would you choose blue?"

"She wears blue all the time. What's wrong with it?" Tony was starting to get confused himself.

"Blue clothes are one thing, Stark, but blue skin! Do you know nothing of our world? Of Jotunheim?" Thor rubbed his face in frustration.

"Of course I've heard of Jotunheim - Loki is Prince of Jotunheim. What's so bad about it?"

Now even Nat was looking shocked at Stark. Tony had obviously skimmed the packet on the out of town guests.

" **Bozhe moi** , Tony! Did you not read any of the stuff Fury gave you to read? Thought you did your homework?"

Nat stormed off to see how Hanna was and try to find something to get the dye off.

"I don't know why everyone is so wound up about it." Tony had the effrontery to look slightly hurt.

"Stark, the wars with Jotunheim took more Asgard and Vanaheim lives than anything else in our combined histories. I was exiled here because I tried to destroy Jotunheim. Loki almost died; fell under the Other's influence. All that has happened to us, the losses to Hanna's family, stems from the ancient enmity between our peoples. To make her look like a Frost Giant is far worse than a mere prank. It is an insult and a hurt she will not forget lightly."

"Ah. Well that will teach me to do my homework… Hey, er any ideas on how I'm going to get out of this one, buddy?"

"I may give it some thought. First I am going to see if Hanna is alright."

Thor left, and Tony was left trying to think of a way he might extricate himself from a predicament for which he only had himself to blame.

* * *

Three days later, a still slightly pallid Hanna was sitting in the library when she was aware of several other people in the room.

She had barely left her room since Tony's ill-judged prank. Nat had tried to help her remove the dye, but it was difficult to get off completely, until Steve had found her some strong abrasive soap. It had muted the color and removed a few layers of skin in the process. She was still raw in places.

"Hanna," Thor began, "Forgive our intrusion. But it is time to do something about Stark."

Hanna was still supremely irked. It had taken a great deal of self-control and Bruce's persuasion to prevent her from strangling Tony that day. Apparently the paperwork involved after killing someone was murder.

"I agree," Hanna's voice was a little unsteady. What had been to Tony a casual prank, was so much more to her.

"Ok, so any ideas what we can do about him? I mean, we can't throw him off the roof." Clint bit his lip as he said it.

Hanna raised an eyebrow. Taking a leaf out of Loki's book and throwing Stark off his tower was highly entertaining.

"We want to prank him, not kill him. Ok, maybe some of us want to kill him, but I think pranking might be the more measured response." Nat was in mediator mode.

They all sat in silence, trying to think of something spectacular.

"Well, I got nothing." Bruce couldn't think of anything to top what Tony came up with.

"Actually, "nothing" is ideal." They hadn't noticed Loki teleport in. He avoided Hanna's eye, and she colored beneath the pallor.

Everyone else looked expectantly at Loki, waiting for him to continue.

"Stark will be expecting retaliation. If we do nothing, he will still be expecting retaliation. For as long as we do nothing. And the longer we do nothing, the more paranoid he will become." Loki had a grin on his face that he usually got when he'd come up with a particularly good prank.

The others looked at him with admiration.

"Huh. God of Mischief. Should've just asked you in the first place..." Clint said in spite of his issues with the God of Mischief.

Hanna actually smiled for the first time in three days. Loki noticed. It felt good.

* * *

For the first week Tony didn't seem to be affected, though there were no more pranks from him. He judged it might be wiser to let things lie. Although, he did begin to wonder if he was missing something.

By the end of the second week, with carefully timed glances in his direction and the odd conversation strategically cut off at his entrance, he was definitely starting to look a little expectant.

Half way through the third week the strain began to show. He opened doors gingerly, looked before entering. He started making all his own food and drink, locked his bedroom door and started looking quite shifty.

A month in, and he was actually starting to twitch.

Tony couldn't stand it any longer. He knew they had something planned, and from the amount of time they were putting into its preparation it was going to be spectacular. Loki and Hanna were likely at the helm.

He caught them all together in the day room. Plotting, no doubt.

"Guys, please, I can't take this any more. Just do the thing and get it over with. Hanna, I'm sorry. I know I messed up, just please hit me, throw a fireball at me, or something. Just get me back so I can concentrate on something else." Tony was nearly on his knees begging.

"I believe we just did." Hanna was polite and smiling. They were all smiling.

The truth began to dawn.

"Son of a … I pranked my own damn self."

Everyone else in the room smirked.

* * *

 **A/N 2: And here we end. The next chapter will (hopefully) begin an arc of chapters in Sin City. Loki in Las Vegas? Imagine the chaos he'll cause! A relative of Hanna's will also be around, Tony and Bruce will find a Midgardian alcohol that can get the out of town guests lit like X-mas trees! I'd love to see your guesses! There will also be some cameos from the X-men!**

 **Happy Feast of Saint Andrew!**

 **Looking forward to seeing what you all think! SSD**


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